A great white shark, the policy’s target species. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
West Australia’s controversial catch-and-kill program’s trial period is over. After more than a 100 sharks were caught off the West Australian coastline, the baited drum lines are being removed from the water. For now. Premier Colin Barnett’s government has applied to extend the program for another three years.
According to the WA Today, the Department of Fisheries shows that 31 sharks were killed and 14 were found dead on hooks from January 25 to March 16. Although no great whites, which were the target species, were caught, tiger sharks made up the vast majority.
The catch-and-kill policy, in place since January of this year, was on trial until April. Sharks more than three meters (around 10 feet) caught on one of 72 baited drum lines placed along the coastline were to be shot and dragged out to sea. The policy met with opposition from the very beginning.
In order for the cull to be made possible, WA needed an exemption from a federal law passed in 1999. The law protected biodiversity, and Greg Hunt, the national minister for the environment, granted it. Environmentalists, conservationists, and many others were outraged.
After the trial period expired, the state government applied to the Commonwealth to extend the program until 2017. Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority opened a month-long submission period for the public to comment on the extension, although they’ve declined to formally assess the trial program after receiving more than 23,000 submissions.
Australia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still reviewing Western Australia’s bid for three-year extension of the shark cull, and a decision from the Commonwealth Department of the Environment is expected next month.
