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Do we need a shark cull at Reunion Island?

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After a recent deadly shark attack at Reunion Island, world renowned surfer and conservationist Kelly Slater has called for a serious daily shark cull.

Grind TV writes “After the 20th shark attack off Reunion Island since 2011 occurred earlier this week, the world’s greatest surfer made a comment that “there needs to be a serious cull on Reunion and it should happen everyday.”

The attack happened at a spot that is well known for it’s sharks and there are signs warning people that it is closed for waters ports. Unfortunately those sign were cut down the weekend before, but the local fishermen reported that they warned the body-boarders.
Sky news writes: “It is reported young people had been there for several days, despite being warned by locals of a shark.”
Kelly Slater’s response to this attack is this. 

“Honestly, I won’t be popular for saying this but there needs to be a serious cull on Reunion and it should happen everyday. There is a clear imbalance happening in the ocean there. If the whole world had these rates of attack nobody would use the ocean and literally millions of people would be dying like this. The French govt needs to figure this out asap. 20 attacks since 2011!?”
Read more at http://www.grindtv.com/surf/kelly-slater-calls-for-the-culling-of-sharks-off-reunion-island-after-another-death/#9UTBb73KTjdJh1IT.99

First off, I want to extend my condolences to the friends and family of the victim. This is truly a tragedy and the fact that I don’t blame the sharks is not diminishing that fact.

I think Kelly Slater is one of the good guys and I admire a lot of the things he does. In this case, I have to respectfully disagree with his stance. By all accounts, this location is well known for it’s shark population and the associated danger to water sports enthusiasts. The surfers and body- boarders were warned that those areas are closed to water sports and they still decided to go into the water.

There are tons of places, all around the world, where it is safe to go into the ocean, so why would you want to kill the sharks that seem to aggregate in this area, so you can have another spot? There are relatively few and well known areas, where sharks are found in larger numbers. Why go surfing there? Calling for a shark cull, because someone ignored all the warnings is not the way to protect the oceans. Are we calling for the top of Mt. Everest to be cut down, because people die of hypoxia there? There are always people that want to take risk. Don’t blame the sharks when things go wrong.

Also I want to put things in perspective. There have been 20 shark bites since 2011, 8 of them fatal. That amounts to about 3 bites and a little more than one fatality per year. While each death is tragic, there are a lot of other things that are far more dangerous without anyone doing anything to mitigate the danger.

Kelly, I hope that you change your mind on this. A lot of people listen to you and respect your opinion. It’s not just about Reunion Island. If people think that shark culls are a good option, there will be calls for those in a lot of other places. I would like to invite you to be my guest and come out with us to experience what these sharks are like when you come face to face with them. Maybe that will change your mind.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver.
 

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

25
Feb 2017
By Shark Divercagediving, kelly slater, Reunion Island.Comments Off on Do we need a shark cull at Reunion Island?

Do we need a shark cull at Reunion Island?

Instagram 
After a recent deadly shark attack at Reunion Island, world renowned surfer and conservationist Kelly Slater has called for a serious daily shark cull.

Grind TV writes “After the 20th shark attack off Reunion Island since 2011 occurred earlier this week, the world’s greatest surfer made a comment that “there needs to be a serious cull on Reunion and it should happen everyday.”

The attack happened at a spot that is well known for it’s sharks and there are signs warning people that it is closed for waters ports. Unfortunately those sign were cut down the weekend before, but the local fishermen reported that they warned the body-boarders.
Sky news writes: “It is reported young people had been there for several days, despite being warned by locals of a shark.”
Kelly Slater’s response to this attack is this. 

“Honestly, I won’t be popular for saying this but there needs to be a serious cull on Reunion and it should happen everyday. There is a clear imbalance happening in the ocean there. If the whole world had these rates of attack nobody would use the ocean and literally millions of people would be dying like this. The French govt needs to figure this out asap. 20 attacks since 2011!?”
Read more at http://www.grindtv.com/surf/kelly-slater-calls-for-the-culling-of-sharks-off-reunion-island-after-another-death/#9UTBb73KTjdJh1IT.99

First off, I want to extend my condolences to the friends and family of the victim. This is truly a tragedy and the fact that I don’t blame the sharks is not diminishing that fact.

I think Kelly Slater is one of the good guys and I admire a lot of the things he does. In this case, I have to respectfully disagree with his stance. By all accounts, this location is well known for it’s shark population and the associated danger to water sports enthusiasts. The surfers and body- boarders were warned that those areas are closed to water sports and they still decided to go into the water.

There are tons of places, all around the world, where it is safe to go into the ocean, so why would you want to kill the sharks that seem to aggregate in this area, so you can have another spot? There are relatively few and well known areas, where sharks are found in larger numbers. Why go surfing there? Calling for a shark cull, because someone ignored all the warnings is not the way to protect the oceans. Are we calling for the top of Mt. Everest to be cut down, because people die of hypoxia there? There are always people that want to take risk. Don’t blame the sharks when things go wrong.

Also I want to put things in perspective. There have been 20 shark bites since 2011, 8 of them fatal. That amounts to about 3 bites and a little more than one fatality per year. While each death is tragic, there are a lot of other things that are far more dangerous without anyone doing anything to mitigate the danger.

Kelly, I hope that you change your mind on this. A lot of people listen to you and respect your opinion. It’s not just about Reunion Island. If people think that shark culls are a good option, there will be calls for those in a lot of other places. I would like to invite you to be my guest and come out with us to experience what these sharks are like when you come face to face with them. Maybe that will change your mind.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver.
 

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

25
Feb 2017
By Shark Divercagediving, kelly slater, Reunion Island.Comments Off on Do we need a shark cull at Reunion Island?

Really Western Australia!? Again?

The department of fisheries for western Australia made the following announcement today.

“Following a series of tagged shark detections of a white shark at the Warnbro receiver a decision has been made to deploy capture gear to take a white shark that has been assessed as posing a serious threat to public safety.”
 

source


So what has this shark done to pose this serious threat to public safety? Did it attack a surfer? Did it try to bite a swimmer?…… actually no. According to their press release, “The Department of Fisheries sent vessels to investigate and it became apparent the same shark has been within one kilometre of the shore over consecutive days.” …. ah, …. well,….. hmm,….. I really don’t know what to say. A shark is swimming in the water within a kilometer (.62 miles) over consecutive days! I guess that is reason enough to go out, capture and kill a protected species. I mean really, it is our Ocean and not the sharks! (sharkasm intended, just to make sure)

After stating that “The initial pattern of detections of this tagged shark combined with the mitigation strategies did not warrant further action”.  They went on to say. “However there has been an increase in the number of day-time detections on consecutive during the lead up to Christmas, and school holidays combined with warm and sunny weather, people are more likely to be in the water using the beaches, fishing and diving.” … So it’s not really the shark that is the problem, it’s the people who want to go where they know a shark is swimming. I mean really, it would just be ridiculous to think that the strategies in already place right now “Measures required to negate serious threat to the public have been put in place, including beach closures, notifications to the community, and alerts / detections posted on Twitter and the department’s SharkSmart website, however, given the likely increase in water users and increased detections of this shark, more direct action has now been taken to address public safety concerns.” would prevent a possible attack. No, of course not. They need to go out and kill this protected shark. Anything else would just not be right!
 
The fisheries department justifies their action this way “The decision to remove the shark has been made under the State Government’s guidelines for the take of a shark posing a serious threat to public safety,”…. pssst, don’t tell anyone, but how is a shark in the water a serious threat to a person on land? If the required action includes closing the beach and alerting the community, how exactly does this shark pose a serious threat?

I guess we now know, what the government had in mind, when they stopped their challenge to the decision to remove the drumlines. Just make up a hypothetical threat and go out to kill a protected species….. Well done!

Anyway, you can read their entire press release here.

Remember that Western Australia does this to supposedly protect the public and help tourism. We can all choose to not visit Western Australia and show them that way, what we think of their actions.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver
 

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

19
Dec 2014
By Shark Diverstupid government, Uncategorized, western australiaComments Off on Really Western Australia!? Again?

Western Australian Shark Cull. Make a difference!

The Australian EPA is doing a Public Environmental Review (PER) and is soliciting comments from the public. This is our chance to be heard, but please consider a few things, before you write your response.

As usual, “DaShark” has beat me to it and written an excellent blog on the subject. Here are a couple of things he mentions.

During the first period of public review, here is what happened.

The 14 week trial attracted intense media and community interest. 
The trial generated: 

  • 765 separate articles on sharks in local, state and national newspapers 
  • 1,100 radio news bulletins on sharks (Western Australia) 
  • 850 radio talk back comments on sharks (Western Australia) 
  • 290 television news items on sharks (Western Australia) 
  • 286,000 emails and letters to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) – a significant number of which were pro forma emails
  • and a significant number of postings on Twitter and Facebook, some of which were offensive and contained personal attacks on members of the Government and staff involved with the program.
And the net result of that onslaught of unsolicited appeals, petitions (= pro forma emails), opinions and abuse?


A big fat zero.
So why did all that media attention, written petitions and postings on social media have no effect on their decision? Well, it did have an effect. Probably not the effect you were hoping for, but an effect nonetheless. 

The government is stating: 

The 14-week trial generated “offensive and contained personal attacks on members of the Government and staff involved with the program” on Twitter and Facebook.
Supporters said they had “no choice but to stay quiet due to the level of abuse and vilification received”, describing the level of personal attack and social media postings as “unacceptable”.
“The Government is now more acutely aware of the level of abuse that was directed towards supporters of the program and the reasons for so many staying silent,” 

So basically, they blame us for why, what they claim is the silent majority, has stayed quiet on the subject. They are not kidding, that’s what they believe. If we want them to listen to us, we have to mind what we say and how we say it.

Here is DaShark’s advice.

Both the postulated silent majority and the anti-cull faction have an equal opportunity to have their voices heard – and I sure hope that the latter is not only composed of social media slacktivists and agitators but that instead, it will make a vigorous attempt at turning things around by fielding rational arguments.
Not really convinced that the WA government will listen – but along with the federal assessment, it’s the best opportunity we got.

Recommendations here.
Please make your submission – the clock is ticking!
I could not have said it any better myself. Here is the link with all the information on how to submit your comments. Let’s make our voices heard! 
Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

21
Jun 2014
By Shark DiverEPA shark cull review, PER, petition shark cull, UncategorizedComments Off on Western Australian Shark Cull. Make a difference!

Important information on the WA shark cull!

As most of you know, after the WA government stated that the shark cull was for a limited time, they are now trying to extend it for the next 3 years. The WA EPA is asking for comments from the public, and it is crunch time for getting those comments t…

14
Apr 2014
By Shark DiverUncategorized, WA shark cullComments Off on Important information on the WA shark cull!

Is Australias government coming to it’s senses?

http://www.speakupforblue.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WA-Shark-Cull.jpgGreg Hunt, Australia’s federal minister for the environment, has released a statement to the press, “The Federal Government will require the West Australian Government to undertake a full environmental assessment of Western Australia’s Shark Mitigation Strategy.”

Even though they can continue the current program until the end of April, the release  further states “However, as I have previously informed the West Australian Government on making the original decision, there would be no further extension without a full assessment.

Western Australia will need to refer the program for assessment under national environment law.  We will work co-operatively with the West Australian Government through this process.”

You can read the entire press release here.

This is a good first step. Let’s hope that when they review the policy they actually listen to the scientific evidence and not just the fear mongers in the West Australian government.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

11
Mar 2014
By Shark Diverenvironmental policy, swimming with sharks, Uncategorized, West AustraliaComments Off on Is Australias government coming to it’s senses?

Richard Branson, voice of reason?

Most of you are aware of the recent “shark cull” policy enacted in Western Australia. Since they actually started to use baited drum-lines, there has been a public outcry to stop the killing of the sharks. Many argue the the drum lines indiscriminately…

04
Feb 2014
By Shark DiverUncategorizedComments Off on Richard Branson, voice of reason?

Is Australia killing sharks? Again?

This is getting ridiculous. According to a couple of articles in the Australian, the Western Australian government has again decided to kill great white sharks. According to one article “Large sharks that swim into designated ‘kill zones’ near popular …

10
Dec 2013
By Shark DiverUncategorized, western australiaComments Off on Is Australia killing sharks? Again?