Commentary
Sea Shepherd makes submission to stop WA’s shark drum lines
Wednesday, 09 Jul, 2014
Sea Shepherd makes submission to stop WA’s shark drum lines
One of the undersized tiger sharks badly injured from the drum line hook Photo: Neil Henderson
(Independent Observer)The Western Australian (WA) Government has applied to extend the shark drum line policy for the next three years from November 15 to April 30 of each year, at popular beaches in Perth and the South West. Drum lines will be positioned approximately 1km offshore and any white, bull or tiger sharks caught measuring 3 metres or longer will be killed. Many people, including over 300 scientists believe that this will have a detrimental impact on our delicate marine environment and that the implementation of non-lethal alternatives will be more effective in reducing human-shark interactions.
To assist in the prevention of this policy being re-introduced, Sea Shepherd has aligned with the Western Australian Environmental Defenders Office to respond to a Public Environmental Review (PER), providing the following submission to the Environmental Protection Authority.
Sea Shepherd Australia LTD PER Submission (PDF)
The PER process
It has been ruled that the WA’s proposal to kill protected sharks must be assessed under State and Federal regulations to determine the impact on the environment. The EPA must collate all responses to the WA Government’s proposal, summarise them and then ask the State to respond. The EPA will then assess the proposal and prepare the final report for consideration by the State and Federal Ministers for the Environment. This report is scheduled to be published in September and the public will an opportunity to appeal the EPA’s findings and recommendations. The State and Federal Ministers for the Environment will make the final decision in October whether the proposal should be implemented. Sea Shepherd will be monitoring this process and taking pre-emptive action where required.