I HEARD on the radio that Dave Macaulay and the Margaret River and Yallingup Boardriders support the setting of drum lines and the killing any white pointer, bull or tiger shark over three metres "caught", and understand that Surfing WA does not have a position on the matter. I have been a surfer for over 45 years and must state my views are different from those of surfers or surfing organisations that favour, or are indifferent about, such killing.
As users and major beneficiaries of our marine environment, surfers should stand up for its protection.
There is no way of ensuring that sharks that do not meet the species and size-kill criteria, i.e. bronze whalers under three metres, will not be killed or maimed (who checks the hooks at night?). And when a shark that meets the species and size-kill criteria is killed, there must be only a very tiny or close to zero chance that such shark would have attacked a human being had it been left alive.
So it is highly likely that all the killing will not prevent a single attack. That is unnecessary and indiscriminate killing, and it sucks. When the occupants of an African or Indian village are attacked or threatened by a lion or tiger, they may target the rogue big cat, but they certainly don't go out and indiscriminately kill any big cat they can find. And if I have a tiger snake outside my door that needs to be destroyed, I don't start running over every snake I see on the nearby road.
I encourage other surfers who feel the innocent creatures of our oceans should be conserved rather than indiscriminately killed to speak up. Those motivated to speak up in favour of the shark kill would be better off campaigning against climate change - which has already killed many, mainly poor, people around the world - and for the conservation of fish stocks.
Simon Thwaites
Torbay
