Majority against return of shark drum lines

A shark has been caught on a WA drum line one hour before the catch and kill trial ended.

THE overwhelming majority of PerthNow readers never want to see the State Government's controversial shark drum lines back in WA waters.

The drum lines were removed from Perth beaches today after their first summer in operation.

Late this afternoon, more than 3100 readers had voted in a PerthNow poll that asked should the drum lines be used again – and 87 per cent said no.

About 12 per cent wanted the drum lines used again, while less than one per cent did not care about the issue.

Marine groups monitoring the removal of WA's shark drum lines say the controversial policy should never be used again.

WA's controversial drum-line baits, which have caught hundreds of sharks, are being removed from the water today. Picture: Animal Amnesty

An application by the WA Government to extend the drum line policy for three years is being assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Fisheries staff checked the lines as normal today and begun pulling them out at 2pm, starting at Ocean Reef.

There were 30 baited lines at five beaches in Perth, and more in the South West. Removing them was expected to take three hours.

A full report on the number and type of sharks caught on the lines is expected to be released next week

Sixty six sharks — mostly tiger sharks — were caught on the baited drum lines and killed in the first three weeks of operation.

Should the State Government's shark drum lines be used again?

The vast majority of sharks caught off Perth and the South West were tiger sharks, but a blacktip and dusky whaler were also caught and released alive. Two makos were also caught.

No great white sharks, which are responsible for most fatal attacks on humans, were caught.

While the controversial catch-and-kill policy targeted great white, bull and tiger sharks bigger than three metres, all but two of those that were found dead on hooks were smaller, including the makos, which measured only 1.7m and 2m.

Activist group Sea Shepherd said that as of Friday its spotters had seen 161 sharks caught on drum lines and 54 drowned or killed.

Of those, 50 were caught in the South Weston, with 28 killed. The rest were around Perth beaches.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society said the removal of the drum lines today should mark a "permanent end" to the policy.

The society's marine campaigner, Tooni Mahto, said the government was yet to provide a "fundamental justification" for the program.

"At no stage has the WA Government provided evidence that killing sharks will improve public safety," Ms Mahto said.

Ms Mahto called on the Government to release the final figures for the shark cull.

WA received an exemption under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to conduct the cull, allowing Department of Fisheries staff to catch and kill any protected great white, tiger or bull shark larger than three metres long if it was found in certain zones.

The cull has already survived a legal challenge, with the WA Supreme Court refusing to grant Sea Shepherd and injunction to stop the cull.

Premier Colin Barnett hailed his government's controversial shark baiting policy a success – with drum lines set to be removed today.

"With respect to great whites they tend to be more prevalent during spring, early summer. We didn't have drum lines in during that period," he said.

"The program finishes today. There will be a report prepared and that will be released publicly.

"I think it has been a success and maybe there will be a fair bit of contention about that, but we have caught some very large sharks close in to popular swimming areas."

Mr Barnett said 100 sharks had been caught by the drum lines, 40 of which were destroyed or "died on the hook."

He labelled the behaviour of some of those opposed to the baiting program was "vulgar and obscene".

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