Spotter planes and surf patrols are normally enough to keep bathers reasonably safe. Photo / Thinkstock
Opinion
Shooting sharks does not sound very sensible if the purpose is to make beaches safer for swimming. The one thing everybody hears about the sea's supreme predators is that blood in the water is liable to attract more of them. Presumably the West Australian state Government considered that risk when
it decided to set baited lines a kilometre off beaches near Perth and invite commercial fishermen to shoot any great white, bull or tiger shark of more then 3m that might be caught on the lines or be seen inside them.
Despite protests on the beaches last weekend and widespread condemnation, the decision is due to take effect tomorrow. Critics have not raised the question of human safety when the carnage starts, their objection is one of principle. The sea, their placards point out, is the sharks' habitat. If it comes to a contest, the sharks' right to life exceeds humans' right to recreation in the water.
Respect for wildlife has come a long way in recent times. No so long ago, any creature that posed a threat to humans in its own realm was considered fair game. Attitudes began to change with the realisation that many of them could be facing extinction, some as a result of trophy hunting, others because their habitats were shrinking as human activities expanded.
Bears, wolves and other species with a fearsome reputation in fairy tales were, in reality, rarely seen and when they were seen, they were found to be usually wary of human beings. They have become protected in parks and wilderness areas and their survival celebrated, not feared.
Sharks, though, have some way to go. Nature programmes still delight in enticing them to attack cages where divers can photograph their teeth up close. The sight of a fin is, quite properly, enough to clear a beach of bathers. If they bite someone, it is so frightful and often fatal that it is easy to forget how rarely it happens.
