SHARKS —
FISHERIES — PREVENTIVE MEASURES
825. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the
Attorney General representing the Minister for Fisheries:
(1) Is the minister considering
re-opening a shark fishery off the Western Australian coast?
(2) What science is the minister
relying on to make this decision?
(3) Does the minister support the
culling of sharks; and, if so, why; and, if not, why not?
Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN
replied:
On behalf of the Minister for
Fisheries, I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question.
(1)–(2) There
are four shark fisheries in Western Australia. The west coast shark fishery—west
coast demersal gillnet and demersal longline interim managed fishery—operates
from Steep Point to Bunbury and uses demersal gillnets to target a range of
small shark species such as gummy, whiskery and wobbegong sharks, as well as
juvenile dusky sharks, often referred to as bronze whalers, and demersal
scalefish, for human consumption. The southern shark fishery—joint
authority southern demersal gillnet and demersal longline fishery—currently
operates from Bunbury to the Western Australian–South Australian border
and also uses demersal gillnets to target a similar suite of shark species, and
demersal scalefish, for human consumption. Together, the west coast shark
fishery and the southern shark fishery take a combined catch of around 1 000
tonnes of shark and scalefish annually. The metropolitan area—from
Lancelin to Bunbury—of the west coast shark fishery was closed in
November 2007 to address concerns about demersal scalefish stocks in the west
coast bioregion. The government will continue to review available information
and research related to this area. There are also fisheries off the north coast
of Western Australia that are largely inactive. These are the joint authority
northern shark fishery and the WA north coast shark fishery. The Department of
Fisheries is currently reviewing these fisheries to assess possible future
management options.
(3) The matters
relating to reducing the risk of shark attacks in Western Australian waters are
inherently complex. The Liberal–National government is committed to
addressing its duty of care to minimise the risk of shark attack by supporting
existing measures, investigating ways to enhance and expand these measures and
researching new approaches as they become available.