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Plea to fish out 'shark plague'

Plea to fish out 'shark plague'

Professional fishermen are putting shark shields on their lines in a bid to protect catches from what anglers say are sharks in plague-like numbers off WA's north.

An alliance of commercial and recreational fishers is lobbying the State Government to overturn restrictions on shark fishing in WA's north and claims "rapidly growing numbers" are a threat to fish stocks.

The former Labor government introduced restrictions from North West Cape to the Northern Territory border in 2005 after shark numbers declined.

Species protected were mainly blacktip and sandbar sharks, though others such as tiger and lemon sharks were also affected.

But fishermen say stocks have not only recovered in the past 10 years but also may be in excess of the so-called carrying capacity of the local marine environment.

Recfishwest chief executive Andrew Rowland said there were now so many sharks that anglers could struggle to land a catch in prime game fishing areas such as Exmouth and Broome.

He said there was evidence of the trend off places such as Perth but it was most pronounced in tropical waters and had prompted fishers to look at "innovative" methods. This included attaching shark shields to their lines to ward off the predators.

"In the past three to five years it's become one of the biggest issues for the recreational fishing sector in those northern areas - this issue of bite-off by predating sharks on hooked fish," Dr Rowland said.

"It depends on where people are fishing and I believe it's quite seasonal but in some locations it's significant to the point people have to move to land a fish."

Chris Calogeras, from the Northern Shark Fishing Association, said sharks were causing "significant" losses in damage to gear and ruined catches.

Mr Calogeras said there no longer appeared to be justification for the restrictions.

"There appears to be significant growth in the shark population in northern WA and that is certainly impacting on the commercial sector," he said.

Fisheries Minister Ken Baston said he was aware of the issue but it involved shark sustainability and management across WA and was complex. He said this type of fisheries management question was discussed routinely.