14 DAY TRIAL // In an attempt to make local waters a tad safer for swimmers, divers, and surfers, high officials in Western Australia are looking to extend the state's shark cull program until 2017.
Simply put, they want drum lines to be installed along Western Australia's coastline annually between November and April, from now until said year.
Of the sharks that will get caught in these drum lines, just those that measure more than 3 meters (9.8 feet) in length and are therefore considered a threat to humans will be killed. International Business Times tells us that, according to a report pieced together by conservationists, hundreds of sharks are very likely to die should Western Australia be allowed to extend its cull until 2017.
More precisely, conservationists expect a death toll of about 900 tiger sharks and about 25 great white sharks. Besides, chances are that the drum lines will also kill several other marine creatures, such as stingrays.
Together with other environmentalists, members and supporters of green group Sea Shepherd argue that this cull program goes against the law, and that Western Australia should be protecting sharks instead of killing them.
“Sea Shepherd Australia believes that the tender process was unlawful, that the WA state government has been acting unlawfully, that the taking and killing of protected animals was illegal,” the organization said earlier this year.
Furthermore, “The law contemplates some sort of process being in place to protect these protected animals and that process has been scotched.”