The call to cull great white sharks

Another shark attack in Western Australia, the great white shark is immediately held responsible and calls to cull re-emerge. Attack, such an emotive word, is it better to use the word incident? 

Of course, more than likely, the great white shark is responsible. The great white, bull, tiger or even bronze whaler tend to be the shark species that tend to be involved in the majority of bites and deaths. The death of a surfer is tragic, no one denies this, I never knew the guy so I probably lack the emotion of losing one of my friends, however, friend of not - I believe culling is a bad idea.

So how would you cull sharks? As seen by the tracking data from South Africa to Western Australia, this particular great white shark possess no passport. Heading to Australia's north west coast from South Africa was almost a straight line with more deviations on the return trip. However, if the great white is not territorial, hanging around a certain area is not likely so they tend to move in and out of certain areas. The chances of slipping past baited drums must increase in such a case making baited lines in certain areas less effective.

http://www.whitesharktrust.org/migration/media/science/artfig1.jpg

The Drowning Report, tabled in parliament listed 284 deaths for 12 months ending June 30, 2012, this is of course awful. The latest report to 2013 lists 291 deaths, a slight increase on the previous year. One has to ask about the risk to the public from shark attack, from 1788 to present, less that 200 people have perished nationally from shark attack, there is also 700 non-fatal attacks in that period. In Western Australia, 185 deaths are attributed to traffic accidents (2012) yet the public outcry is far less emotive. 

http://images.smh.com.au/2012/01/19/2901672/static_shark-420x0.jpg

The baited lines will catch and kill unrelated species. Sharks are alpha predators and having no limbs to feel, the method to explore tends to be through a bite with most victims receiving a single bite before the shark swims off. That being said, it is not a small bite, a single shark bite to a human is definitely life threatening, it is not something I would like to treat as the damage to the limb is extensive with massive blood loss and shock.  

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-19/shark-drumline-diagram/5166852

Shark nets are not the answer either, they are too indiscriminate, capturing non targeted marine life that may also be on the endangered or protected species list.

http://gethookedmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/turtle-in-net.jpg

Size doesn't appear to be an issue either, whales are routinely trapped in shark nets, they are an ineffective measure that causes widespread damage to the whole marine eco-system. 

http://media2.apnonline.com.au/img/media/images/2013/07/26/BQDue4WCMAAZuax_t460.jpg