Skip to main content
Home
  • The Legislative Assembly meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Assembly sit 16/04/2024
  • The Legislative Council meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Council sit 16/04/2024
  • The Public Administration meets on 08/04/2024 (10:00 AM)
    Committee meet 08/04/2024

Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 825 asked in the Legislative Council on 25 August 2016 by Hon Lynn Maclaren

Parliament: 39 Session: 1

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.