ABC Troy Buswell says new shark control measures in Western Australia do not represent a cull. ABC Fact Check finds his statement is .

Shark attacks arouse strong emotions in the Australian community. Following recent fatal attacks in New South Wales and Western Australia, there have been calls for tougher control measures, including the culling of sharks that lurk near popular beaches. Others say that sharks are an important part of the ecosystem and we should learn to co-exist with them.

On December 10, the Western Australian Government announced a series of measures that it says will increase safety for swimmers and surfers. WA Minister Troy Buswell says the response "does not represent what you would call a culling" of sharks.

"It is our view that is a targeted, localised, hazard mitigation strategy... If we are catching sharks that are or are about to be in close proximity of beaches then by extension we are making those beaches safer," he said.

The main initiatives are the establishment of 'Coastal Shark Management Zones' along popular beaches near Perth and Margaret River, the setting of baited drumlines one kilometre out from the shore, and engaging local fisherman to kill large sharks that venture into the new zones.

ABC Fact Check takes a look at whether Mr Buswell is giving the public the full story about these measures and the trade-offs required to improve beach safety.

The key measure in the WA package is the use of baited drumlines to catch sharks before they enter the new management zones. While this is a new strategy for WA, drumlines have been used in Queensland and the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal for many years. They have a similar function to the shark nets also used in those regions and in New South Wales. A drumline consists of a large baited hook suspended from a large plastic float, which in turn is anchored to the sea bed.

The Queensland Government's Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause told Fact Check that in his state, shark nets and drumlines are used in combination along 85 beaches "to catch resident sharks and sharks that move through an area while feeding on bait fish". KwaZulu-Natal similarly uses a combination of nets and drumlines. New South Wales only uses nets, in place on 51 beaches including in Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Illawarra.

Nets and drumlines are in place in Queensland and South Africa for most of the year, but NSW runs its program only between September 1 and April 30 and, according to a NSW Department of Primary Industries document, nets "may not be in place on every beach every day" even during that limited period.

The other main component of the new WA shark control program is the targeted killing of all sharks over three metres long that enter the management zones. Experts consulted by Fact Check say this sort of ad hoc shark control is not regularly practised elsewhere, although there was a shark number reduction program that operated on an irregular basis in Hawaii between between 1959 and 1976. In addition, it has been reported that the French Indian Ocean territory of Reunion plans to kill 90 sharks following five fatal attacks since 2011.

See more here:

Can governments protect people from killer sharks?