TOPIC:

whislt i dont have an opinion either way i find it very interesting that Queensland have had drum lines in for years and years. No one has made mention if this.

I was just about to make the same point Frank...why isn't rent-a-crowd protesting about that?

YS Very descriptive! I know some vegetarians who wouldn't agree with your inane comment. This debate is all in the eye of the beholder and if you need to resort to name calling then I feel for you!

I don't agree with culling. Killing animals seems to be our standard (and easy)response to everything. How often do we see people ignoring shark alerts at beaches by staying in the water and placing themselves at risk. Perhaps these people are either stupid, or those who freely admit that they understand the risks of the ocean and who wouldn't want retribution against sharks should they be mauled.
I agree that being mauled / killed by a shark is a terrible thing and tragic for the people and families involved, and no more or less tragic than any other accidental fatality, but people make choices; going into the water is a choice, driving a car is a choice, mountain climbing is a choice etc, and people have died from these choices.
What happens when a drunk or drug induced driver gets behind the wheel of their car and kills someone, particularly a child.....do we pronounce a cull on all drink drivers? Of course we don't but perhaps we should. Same / same for rapists and child molesters.
Sharks are not monsters, they are animals living in their natural environment and doing what comes naturally.....surviving and making little sharks and the point that someone made earlier about the size and sexual maturity of great white sharks being over 3.0mtrs is correct and very relevant to their survival and importance in the eco-system. When sharks learn to breath air, learn to walk on their fins and start picking us off on land, then I will support a cull.
Worldwide, we kill approx 100-120 million sharks a year through commercial fishing and exploitation....lucky for us sharks arn't a vengeful species, we hold the mortgage on that.

Think you are missing the point 1961 Demon. As I said Queensland have been doing it for years. Nothing said.

Right or wrong humans have been doing culling for years.
When new suburbs go in down come the trees. Thats the birds environment (no protest). Farmers shoot the birds so they dont eat there crops. Thats the birds enviroment (no protest). They culled Kangaroos, rabbits.(no protest).

In America when new suburbs come up they kill of the bears because they are are danger to humans.

Only reason they protest now because its politically motivated and its makes people feel better. Cant have both ways.

I dont think I'm missing the point all Frank Falcon. This thread is about sharks, what's happening to all of the others situations and creatures you reference is equally compelling and real.
The reality of all of this is that I believe we as a species are doing out utmost (rightfully or wrongly / consciously or non-consciously) to damage this planet and the other species that share it. The other examples that you point out add weight to that over all view, IMHO.
I'm not a bleeding heart greenie, or environmentalist, I'm just a person who doesn't believe killing creatures in their natural environment because they may pose a threat to humans is the way to go.
I also firmly believe that human over=-opulation is probably the greatest threat facing us. Human population first reached 1 billion in the ealy 18th century, at the end of WW2 it was approx 2.5 billion (after we'd just finished knocking off 50 million or so), it's now sitting around 7.5 billion - a pretty frightening extrapolation over the last 70 years.

Humans also only tend to protest with regards to larger animals. Always found that interesting.

I don't have a strong point of view either way, probably because I don't swim in the oceans off Perth and probably because I haven't had one of my family eaten by a shark. I have a binding agreement with sharks, I won't swim in their bath and they agree not to swim in mine.

1961Demon wrote: I don't agree with culling. Killing animals seems to be our standard (and easy)response to everything. How often do we see people ignoring shark alerts at beaches by staying in the water and placing themselves at risk. Perhaps these people are either stupid, or those who freely admit that they understand the risks of the ocean and who wouldn't want retribution against sharks should they be mauled.
I agree that being mauled / killed by a shark is a terrible thing and tragic for the people and families involved, and no more or less tragic than any other accidental fatality, but people make choices; going into the water is a choice, driving a car is a choice, mountain climbing is a choice etc, and people have died from these choices.
What happens when a drunk or drug induced driver gets behind the wheel of their car and kills someone, particularly a child.....do we pronounce a cull on all drink drivers? Of course we don't but perhaps we should. Same / same for rapists and child molesters.
Sharks are not monsters, they are animals living in their natural environment and doing what comes naturally.....surviving and making little sharks and the point that someone made earlier about the size and sexual maturity of great white sharks being over 3.0mtrs is correct and very relevant to their survival and importance in the eco-system. When sharks learn to breath air, learn to walk on their fins and start picking us off on land, then I will support a cull.
Worldwide, we kill approx 100-120 million sharks a year through commercial fishing and exploitation....lucky for us sharks arn't a vengeful species, we hold the mortgage on that.

Great post demon, also it's worth noting there are only 3500 great whites left in the entire world, they also take 15 years to sexually mature, so their reproduction rate is quite slow, every shark expert ion note reckons killing these animals pointlessly is the wrong way to go. They are a tally listed as threatened species,. As you say millions of sharks are being ripped out of the oceans each year, mainly by the sordid shark finning industry,

I'm sure many of you remember the great Jacque Custue ,,, he made amazing dive films in the early 70s ,,he filmed massive schools of hammer heads and reef. Sharks at certain spots, then his son went back 30 years later to the same locations, the reeks were dead, all the sharks fished out and gone..all the amazement had been destroyed,..

SuperDude wrote: We need a cull of humans not sharks. Particularly the economic refugees flooding in from the eastern states and NZ.

Better off spending the money on building a bogan-proof fence along the WA-SA/NT border.

Or even better still just somehow keep them all up in Bali never to return to Oz!!