Shark-shooting at Australia beaches reassures some, horrifies others

SYDNEY, Australia As Australians flocked to the beaches at the height of a hot Southern Hemisphere summer, a commercial fisherman hired for the task hauled in a 10-foot tiger shark, caught on a baited line set off the states south coast. The fisherman shot the shark in the head four times with a .22-caliber rifle and then towed the carcass out to sea, where it was dumped.

The catch on Jan. 26 Australia Day, a national holiday popular for beachgoing was the first under a new catch and kill policy in the state of Western Australia for large tiger, bull and great white sharks. Since then, at least one more large shark has died on the line; several smaller ones were caught and released.

The official cull comes after seven fatal shark attacks on swimmers in the state in the last three years, the most recent in November, when a 35-year-old surfer was killed. In one of the attacks, at one of the most popular beaches in Perth, no body was found, only the mans damaged swim trunks. Five of the attacks were by great whites, officials say.

The state governments decision is meant to reassure beachgoers, but it has horrified conservationists and flies in the face of global efforts to protect sharks, whose numbers have been in decline amid heavy pressure from Asian appetites for shark fin soup.

Opponents of the cull policy have mounted protests and consulted lawyers about trying to halt it in the courts. International celebrities have weighed in, including British actor and comedian Ricky Gervais and billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson.

Idiots, idiots, idiots, said Valerie Taylor, an Australian underwater cinematographer, referring to the state government, led by Colin Barnett of the Liberal Party. Taylor, 78, is known around the world for her work filming sharks; with her husband, Ron Taylor, she shot many scenes for Jaws, the 1975 movie blockbuster about a great white shark terrorizing swimmers off New England.

The worst part of what the government is doing is killing sharks that are innocent, Taylor said, by taking any large shark rather than just those known to have attacked humans. Tiger sharks are the sweetest, gentlest sharks to work with, she said. I cant believe the stupidity.

Sharks common

Sharks are common along Australias long coastline, and some swimming beaches, including Sydneys famous Bondi Beach on the east coast, have installed nets to protect swimmers. But the nets themselves are controversial because other kinds of marine life become snagged in them and sometimes die. In New South Wales last summer, the toll included two humpback whales and two sea turtles.

Western Australia generally has not installed nets on its beaches, relying instead on aerial and beach patrols to warn swimmers. It has also tried an alert system, tweeting the whereabouts of some tagged sharks.