By Nikki Roberts and Graeme Powell
Baited drum lines have been dropped off Perth’s north in the hunt for a suspected five-metre shark which killed a diver – the second fatal attack in Western Australia in a week.
A woman, 60, was diving at a popular spot about one kilometre off the northern suburb of Mindarie on Sunday morning when she was attacked by what is thought to be a large great white.
Her 43-year-old diving partner managed to get the woman back into their boat, between One and Three Mile Reefs, but she died from her injuries.
Three men who were heading out on a fishing trip and who came to the pair’s aid said the shark was longer than their 5.3 metre boat.
Fisheries officers this morning reset three baited drum lines in the area after the animal was deemed to be “a serious threat to public safety” by the Department of Fisheries (DoF).
“Given the nature of the injuries and the location of the incident, it is likely that a large white shark, greater than three metres in size is responsible,” a DoF spokesman said.
Meanwhile tributes have been paid on social media to the diver, whose name has not been released.
“There was an accident on a private boat with some of my diver friends. My sincere condolences,” Western Blue Dive Charters skipper Michael Forster said on Facebook.
“R.i.p. such a tragedy. Forever diving!” Jake Barker replied.
Shark hunt sparks criticism
The conservation group Sea Shepherd said it was sending a boat to monitor attempts to catch the shark.
The WA Government abandoned its controversial catch-and-kill shark policy after a trial in 2014, but sharks considered to pose a serious threat to public safety can still be killed on an individual basis under order from the DoF.
A 4.2 metre shark was caught last week off Mandurah after surfer Ben Gerring was mauled, although the DoF said it was not possible to tell if the animal was responsible.
Sea Shepherd spokeswoman Natalie Banks said the group was opposed to the policy.
“By killing a white shark in Falcon we are not preventing shark attacks from happening again. We need to do things like signage and medical kits at beaches right now.”
Whitfords Sea Rescue Commander Ron Harris said he also disagreed with the policy.
“If you have an incident with humans and you punish someone, that indicates to humans that they shouldn’t misbehave, but I don’t think the sharks would know that difference,” he said.
Mr Harris said the reef where the woman was killed was a common diving spot and sharks had been sighted there before, but he could not recall any attacks.
Beaches either side of Mindarie, from Claytons Beach to Quinns Beach, remain closed.
Jacob backs catch-and-kill order
Environment and Acting Fisheries Minister Albert Jacob defended the Government’s policy on hunting dangerous sharks.
“It’s an imminent threat policy in the first instance so we don’t just set the drum lines following an incident,” he told 720 ABC Perth.
“If we have a large shark that’s hanging around a metropolitan beach or a populated beach anywhere in the state then we set them as a preventative measure.
“We’re not looking at a further drum line policy, in terms of a blanket drum line approach or a cull approach.”
Mr Jacob said the Government’s approach to sharks was as good as it could be, pointing to investments in aerial patrols, tagging programs and beach enclosures.
“We can never ring fence all the hazards that we have,” he said.
The Mindarie incident was the second fatal shark attack in WA in the space of six days.
Mr Gerring died in hospital on Friday night after he lost a leg when he bitten by a shark at Falcon beach in Mandurah.
A crowdfunding campaign originally set up to help the fly-in, fly-out worker and his fiancee Jasmine Boyer, who is expecting a child, has so far raised more than $45,000.
The DoF said it would decide tonight whether to drop drum lines off Mindarie again on Tuesday.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
Yeah.... I don't care.... dogs are killed because they roam the streets and are unclaimed or run towards a person...fish are killed everyday by rec fishers...animals are killed for food or sport....kangaroos are culled, cats kill qendas.....
I don't think sharks are higher species of life...they are facing the same methodologies that other animals face. I find it hypocritical that people care about sharks but don't react to other issues which involved the killing of children etc.
They're not a higher species, they're an endangered species.
The rest of your comment is what we refer to as "tu quoque" which basically comes down to "we shouldn't care about [insert any issue here] if we can't fix [every other issue] first.
A shark 1km offshore is hardly an imminent threat to beachgoers - and the drum-line strategy has no guarantee of even targeting the offending shark. It's like walking through the suburbs shooting random dogs, with no concern for breed or temperament, just because one dog attacked a human. It's just randomly killing things for the sake of it.
The government seemingly just wants to be seen to be "doing something". Oddly, I doubt it's gaining any popularity from these measures, so it's difficult to know what's really driving the "something's" that it's doing.
But Emperor Colin has hardly endeared himself in anything else he's done, so why would this be any different? It's just another example of him "doing it his way", no matter what anyone else wants or thinks.
Condolences to both families.