WA Premier Mark McGowan remains in favour of personal devices to deter sharks instead of culling, nets and drumlines following the death of a 17-year-old girl.
Laeticia Brouwer was surfing with her father during a family holiday in Esperance on Easter Monday when she was mauled on the leg as her mother and two sisters watched in horror from the beach.
Her death reignited the long-running shark cull debate in WA, but Mr McGowan waited until Sunday to personally comment on the issue.
"What I've avoided doing this week is politicising this issue ... in light of the fact that a young woman died and her family is grieving," he told reporters.
Mr McGowan said he accepted scientific research indicating there had not been an increase in the white pointer population, despite 15 fatal shark attacks off the WA coast since 2000.
Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said last week that he was open to a shark cull to protect humans.
The premier said the federal government could "take whatever action they want" but he still believed the most sensible policy solution was shark shields and their equivalents, which had been tested and proved to work.
He said nets similar to those used in NSW and Queensland would not work in WA because the beaches did not have headlands.
"I don't think anyone really supports nets and I think you do need the right sort of coastal typography to make them work," he said.
"We saw with the drumline experiment put in place by (former premier Colin) Barnett that it didn't work.
"All it did was catch smaller sharks and I'm very concerned that a culling program would merely bring bigger sharks in closer to smaller sharks thrashing on hooks."
The premier said he spoke to Laeticia's father during the week, describing him as sad but reasonable.
"Laeticia's father, Leon, was grief stricken and I had a long talk with him and he's very appreciative of the community support that he's receiving," he said.
A GoFundMe page has so far raised more than $26,500 for Laeticia's family.
Paddle-out tributes have been organised by surfers in Esperance and her hometown of Singleton later on Sunday.
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