WA shark cull FINished !!!

172 sharks died this summer . Murdered because of political expediency .

The decision to put baited drum-lines on a section of the Western Australian coast was made after a shark attack. But does reducing the shark population reduce the risk of an attack? Unlikely, this is an assumption because we do not fully…

understand the complex behaviour of large sharks. We don’t even know where these sharks breed and Western Australia could play a critical geographical role in the life cycle of large sharks. Since sharks are top predators they are essential for the well-being of all Indian Ocean rim countries. We do not know the consequences of this decision – what effect it could have on the shared ecosystem services between South Africa and Australia and all Indian Ocean rim countries which are part of the shark’s migration . If we are to use a science basis to manage the risks of shark encounters and still have sustainable ecosystem services then much more research has to be done.Without sharks the ecosystems could potentially become unstable and so decrease the value of their services and biodiversity. We want to make our oceans sustainable and so we need to take the right sort of action. We as school students and the future generation ask South Africa, Australia and all Indian Ocean rim countries take the following action:

1. Immediately stopping the use of the baited drum-lines.
2. Do more research to understand the implications of different shark management approaches.
3. Better co-ordination between all Indian ocean rim countries ( to find a better way to protect the ecosystems we share )

"We are the sharks greatest predator , their worst fear but we are also their only hope . " - Lesley Rochat

C'mon guys ... together we can save our sharks !

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