Low support for Perth shark kills: survey

A survey of 600 people in the Perth area has found 75 per cent of those surveyed don't support lethal responses to sharks that bite humans.

Shark cull WA

A photo taken during the controversial shark cull in WA, 2014. A recent poll suggests many in Perth are opposed to lethal responses to shark bites. Source: AAP

There's not much support in Perth for culling sharks despite recent fatal attacks, according to a recent poll.

Three-quarters of respondents to a survey in Perth would prefer the WA government use non-lethal responses to shark bite incidents, rather than killing the animal.

The study by University of Sydney public policy lecturer Christopher Neff polled 600 people and followed two fatal shark attacks in local waters in less than a week.

Surfer Ben Gerring was attacked at Falcon, south of Perth, on May 31 and the next day, a 4.2 metre white shark was caught in the same area, drowned on the line and dumped at sea.

Greens MP Lynn MacLaren says it took more than three hours to die and its stomach contents were not examined.

"The government says the only evidence it collected from the shark was to measure its length and take tissue samples for genetic analysis," Ms MacLaren said.

"The rare opportunity for scientific study of a white shark of this size was tossed overboard.

"We will never know if it was the same shark responsible for biting Mr Gerring and it seems the only opportunity for exploring that possibility or learning what food had attracted the shark to that area was deliberately missed."

After university lecturer Doreen Ann Collyer, 60, was killed while diving with a friend about 1 kilometre off Mindarie earlier this month, drum lines were set but did not catch a shark.

Fisheries department metropolitan regional manager Tony Cappelluti has previously said large schools of salmon were abundant off Falcon when Mr Gerring was attacked, but there were no obvious, significant shark attractants in Mindarie waters when Ms Collyer was mauled.

Permanent drum lines were controversially trialled in WA waters in 2014, killing 172 sharks but not a single white shark, the species believed responsible for most attacks.


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Source: AAP



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