Australian Shark Cull Could Become Stealth Operation

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has welcomed the Western Australian government’s decision to pull back from their controversial shark cull program on Friday.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt was due to decide whether to allow Western Australia’s (WA’s) three year drum line program today, but the WA government has withdrawn its proposal. Federal approval was necessary as the main target species of the policy, the Great White Shark, is an endangered species protected by Australian law. 

AMCS Marine Campaigner Tooni Mahto said the thousands of Australians who spoke out against the shark cull will be extremely relieved to hear that the WA government has dropped their deeply flawed and controversial plans to cull sharks using drumlines.

“The WA shark cull was a flawed policy with a heavy environmental cost but no measurable public safety outcome. AMCS welcomes the WA government’s decision to withdraw the application for federal approval. This is a victory for science, common sense and public opinion. Premier Barnett must now make it clear that this marks the end of his government’s controversial plans to cull sharks,” Mahto said.

"Only last month the WA government had been told in no uncertain terms – by its own environmental agency– that shark culling was an unacceptable risk to threatened species, and they need to look at non-lethal alternatives.

“However we remain deeply concerned that the Australian Government has given a green light to the state’s deeply flawed ‘imminent threat policy. This means that large sharks swimming past the WA coast can be deemed a ‘risk to human safety’ and killed on sight. We are concerned that this will enable a ‘cull by stealth’ and we will be watching very closely”, concluded Mahto.