Drum lines for public safety, court told

Shark drum lines were regarded by the State Gov-ernment as an important public safety program and legal proceedings would not be allowed to interfere with the policy, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.

But legal counsel arguing an application for an urgent injunction to force the rem-oval of the drum lines told the court the case involved two significant issues of public interest - the need for the Government not to avoid its obligations by the "stroke of a minister's pen" and preventing the continued taking of "totally protected" sharks without any authorisation.

Legal arguments over the application for the injunction were aired yesterday as Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt confirmed in writing that the Commonwealth exemption allowing the killing would expire next month.

Marine activists Sea Shepherd and Sharon Burden, whose son Kyle was killed by a shark in 2011, have launched the Supreme Court proceedings challenging the validity of the decision to set baited drum lines off beaches in Perth and the South West.

Ms Burden and Sea Shepherd have applied for an immediate injunction to order the Government to remove the drum lines, arguing that exemptions granted under fisheries management laws were unlawful because they had not been published in the Government Gazette.

Lawyer Richard Hooker told Justice James Edelman that there were circumstances of "genuine urgency" in the case.

"More and more sharks are taken and they are totally protected sharks," Mr Hooker said.

But deputy State Solicitor Robert Mitchell told the court that the Fisheries Resources Management Act clearly set out the matters that required publication in the gazette.

Mr Mitchell said if Justice Edelman ruled the exemptions should have been published in the gazette, the State Government would immediately move to do so to prevent interference with the program.

Justice Edelman, who noted that the case could have broader implications for other licences and permits, reserved his decision until late today.

Mr Hunt wrote to Premier Colin Barnett yesterday to restate that an exemption given to Federal environment laws allowing protected sharks to be killed would end on April 30. Mr Hunt warned Mr Barnett the killing of protected species of sharks could only proceed while the Federal exemption was in place and that an extension of the cull would need to pass a full assessment of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.