Conservationist opposes shark culling
Warnbro conservationist Ross Weir believes WA’s shark population could be in grave danger if the State Government’s imminent threat policy progresses to the culling of the marine animal.
A crew member of The Sea Shepherd and founder of Western Australians for Shark Conservation, Mr Weir said it was vital sharks were managed through tagging, rather than hunted.
Mr Weir, who recently quit his job in telecommunications to dedicate himself to campaign for better shark management, said he would continue to push for the banning of shark finning and long lining.
“We intend to fight for the State Government’s imminent threat policy to be repealed,” he said.
“Imminent threat guidelines (that) State beaches must be cleared before they can go out and hunt the shark but, obviously, if the beach is cleared there can’t be a threat to an empty beach.”
Mr Weir said WASC hoped to encourage the State Government to increase electronic tagging of white pointers and other shark species in order to track their movements and minimise the threat to beach-goers without hunting them.
“There are only about 30 tagged sharks in WA waters — if this number was increased we could get an accurate picture of where they are and what they are doing,” he said.
Mr Weir said the removal of fins from live sharks in the State’s north to be exported to Asia to be used in shark fin soup was legal as the shark population was deemed “sustainable.”
He argued sharks did not reach full maturity until they were between 12 and 17 years. Visit www.wascgroup.com for details.
