Barbara Weuringer, a marine zoologist and shark researcher at the University of Western Australia, said it was impossible to know which sharks were responsible for the attacks unless their stomach contents were examined. She said the proposed cull "sounds a little bit like taking revenge".And as we all know, that emotion is restricted to man, despite what Michael Caine might have to say about it.
The problem is that the method of tracking down the ‘rogue’ shark or sharks is imprecise and risks catching any shark in the vicinity. The sea holds no pugmarks, even if sharks ever left any…
But that cuts no ice with those who, like Amity Island’s fictional mayor, derive their livelihood from tourism. Including this chap:
However, a diving tourism operator, Terry Howson, said: "The problem sharks that move into an area and are aggressive should be dispatched to remove the risks of future attack. It's absolutely hurting the tourist trade. Australia is getting a name for itself as being full of dangerous animals."Errr…
And remember, it’s the shark’s territory. Man is just a visitor.
16 comments:
Exactly! I was about to say that man is the interloper in the marine environment. I don't want anyone to be killed, but stigrays defend themselves and sharks are a top predator. Sharks should not be killed out of hand because of this attack.
I,ve seen this on JAWS what you have to do is measure the bite radius.Richard Dreyfus said if that does,nt work take they,re fingerprints don,t tell me you never heard of fish fingers.
"Australia is getting a name for itself as being full of dangerous animals."
Seriously? Of course, it's full of dangerous animals - it's Australia. I had to kill two redbacks just this weekend, one in the shed hiding behind a toolbox and one on the back door... right on the handle where the sneaky little bastard could sink its fangs into the fingers of anyone coming in if I hadn't spotted it from inside first. At least the sharks have the decency to stay in the sea, though now and again they do bite swimmers and refuse to let go until the bitee has actually made it back to the beach and is sitting in the car park getting help to prise its jaws open (yes, really).
"Australia is getting a name for itself as being full of dangerous animals."
And the yUK doesn't?!
We have Chavus Mcstabbius which as a breed are far more lethal than a Great White. Their australian cousin the common or garden Bogan Bogus is tame by comparison.
The Australian Prime Minister needs to ask i-Dave to send in a crack team to help with their dangerous seafood...
Rick Stein and Hugh Fearlessly Eats-it-all could head it up..
"The Australian Prime Minister needs to ask i-Dave .. "
Why, what use is he ? ..
He's fighting shy of tackling the sharks in our Banking system, 'cos he's sh1t scared of them ..
"And as we all know, that emotion is restricted to man, despite what Michael Caine might have to say about it."
A common and arrogant assumption, JuliaM. What may be unique to homo sapiens is a moral driven revenge or punishment.
Sharks are merely aquatic cats. Kill them all and have done with it.
Australia is a menagerie of unpleasant animals that you are not allowed to kill.
Even the greens are protected.
" Sharks should not be killed out of hand because of this attack."
Quite. It's utterly pointless.
" I had to kill two redbacks just this weekend, one in the shed hiding behind a toolbox and one on the back door... right on the handle where the sneaky little bastard could sink its fangs into the fingers of anyone coming in.."
*shudders*
"Rick Stein and Hugh Fearlessly Eats-it-all could head it up.."
:D
I once had a row with someone who thought all sharks should be killed at once.
Not because of a real-life attack on anyone but because he had seen the film "Jaws."
Sadly, the excitable are always too excited at the fantasy stuff.
I blame Spielberg. Have you seen the stats for shark attacks? It's incredibly rare.
And something else - Russians. Israeli and Egyptian dive captains increasingly won't take any Russians because some of them on Red Sea dives deliberately annoy sharks to show they're hard to their mates. This has lead to a spate of attacks including a German who was killed. I mean what sort of macho idiot annoys a shark to look da man?
" "Australia is getting a name for itself as being full of dangerous animals."
We have killer cows.
I see no problem with culling sharks in that local area. It's not like it's going to endanger the species and the shark population will recover. What it will do is reduce the risk to swimmers, surfers and divers for a short time.
"I was about to say that man is the interloper in the marine environment". Does this mean you think man should stay out of the water or accept that some will be killed? If a flock of birds took up residence at an airport and was causing planes to crash would you argue that the birds should be allowed to do so as man is an interloper in the skies or would you happily see the birds culled/scared off?
LOL @ anonymous.. indeed. We are all SQUATTERS!!!1!
Anyway, lets hope the Dale Farm rabble don't hear of this, because so far, they've claimed newts and bats (in the 'rafters' of some caravans no less) and no doubt, someone will soon smuggle in a man-eating shark to live in an old bathtub so that the council can jump up and down properly, in style.
"I blame Spielberg."
Well, it was Peter Benchley who started it all off, but he at least changed his tune years later...
" Does this mean you think man should stay out of the water or accept that some will be killed?"
Since there are ways of keeping sharks out of swimming areas without killing them, yes. You'll note that airports employ bird-scarers, rarely bird-killers.
And seagulls aren't as rare as great whites.
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