A giant tiger shark caught off the Tweed Coast recently.
Two days ago, on Monday night, the Le-Ba Boardriders Club organised a shark crisis meeting in Lennox Head.
There were about 200 people in attendance (it’s reported that most were surfers) alongside the Richmond police and Ballina Shire Mayor David Wright.
Out of the 200 people, 95% were calling for a limited and controlled cull of sharks along the northern coastline of NSW. But despite the support, the NSW Department of Primary Industries rejected the idea of a cull, rather stating that they’ll continue a “science-driven initiative” to better understand shark patterns in the area.
The Le-Ba Club president, Don Munro, said that seven individual sharks had been identified down to their length and markings since regular aerial patrols began two weeks ago. The helicopter has spotted sharks 20 metres away from surfers at Bolders Beach five times in the past two weeks. The aerial patrol initiative costs over $16,000 per weekend.
“Surfers are more environmentally aware than most,” said Munro. “We live in the water, we have an appreciation that we’re in their domain… but… now it’s just gone crazy and no one really knows why. The thing is, what price do we put on life?”
Despite the rejection of the cull, local government recognises that something needs to be done. Mayor Wright said that he didn’t support the cull, but if nothing is done between now and a “shark summit” scheduled in October, businesses will start going under. He’s afraid that locals will start taking matters into their own hands and culling the sharks themselves.
At the moment, a “call triple-zero” protocol is working, although with limited capacity. Several social media pages have been set up to give out real-time information on sightings and incidents. On top of that, the government has said that they’re looking at ways to improve shark protection in the area, including spending $100,000 investigating new detection and deterrence technologies.
Some experts believe that the increase in attacks and sightings could be due to the dredging of nearby rivers, and unusually high number of bait fish and whales, or warmer water temperatures – but the fact is, no one really knows. And no one really knows what to do, either.
What do you reckon? Would you go surfing in Lennox or Ballina at the moment? Would you support a cull? Tell us, in the comments below.