A WA parliamentary question regarding the shark drum line program and the killing of a white shark off Falcon following a shark bite incident. The question probes the Minister's rationale and evidence for the policy.

AnsweredQoN 585Legislative Council
Asked
23 June 2016
Portfolio
Fisheries

QuestionView source ↗

SHARK DRUM LINE PROGRAM — WHITE SHARK —
MANDURAH
585. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Attorney General representing
the Minister for Fisheries:
I refer to question without notice
536 asked on Tuesday.
(1) What is the
minister's response to the University of Sydney survey reported in
PerthNow on 22 June 2016, which found three in four people in Perth do not
support killing a shark after a shark bite incident?
(2) Does the
minister believe that a shark that has bitten someone once is more likely than
other sharks to bite a person again?
(3) If yes to
(2), what evidence does the minister rely on?
(4) If no to (2),
why does the minister support clauses in the current serious threat guidelines
that allow for sharks to be killed after a shark bite incident?
(5) Given salmon
may have attracted a number of sharks into the area, does the minister
acknowledge that it is fully possible that the white shark that was killed off
Falcon was not the same shark that bit Mr Gerring?

AnswerView source ↗

On behalf of the Minister for
Fisheries, I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) The
information from the recent survey, which he understands was funded by the Save
Our Seas Foundation, will be considered along with other relevant information.
(2)–(5) The
safety of the public is the key priority of the Liberal–National
government. The taking of a shark under the serious threat policy is just one
element of the government's broader shark hazard mitigation strategy.
Other strategies include the use of aerial surveillance, beach enclosures,
research, shark tagging, monitoring and the issuing of alerts.

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