Quint would be pleased. The professional shark-hunter from Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws would raise a glass and toast the WA government’s decision to authorise the destruction of the shark responsible for a diver’s death at Rottnest Island last week.
And just like in Jaws, there’s community hysteria, a loss of reasoned thought, at the idea there is a man-eater waiting in the shallows off the coast.
This reaction is admirable and understandable. The loss of a life through misadventure is tragic. Often the casualty is in their prime and their loved ones are always devastated. Our unreserved sympathies go out to those left behind in what must be the worst imaginable circumstances. No act or sentiment can ever fill the hole left in their lives.
Survival of the species is a primal instinct. When threatened, we lash out reflexively to eradicate the threat. It is how humans survived through the millennia and is our instinctive reaction when confronted by a physical threat.
But in the 21st century, societal violence against a localised threat is not appropriate. This shark is not a threat to the survival of humankind. It is not a ‘rogue’ intentionally targeting humans. It’s just a fish that eats things in the sea.
In 2008, a shark took a man snorkelling off a beach near Perth. He knew the risks and accepted them. Reports at the time suggested he would not have wanted the shark hunted and destroyed. This is the attitude that all beachgoers need to accept. This is the understanding they need to have, every time they go into the sea.
Sharks are predators. Great white sharks are apex predators. The only threats they have are humans. Apex predators play a key role in the health of ecosystems. A study published in the 15 July 2011 edition of Science found that “the loss of apex consumers is arguably humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world”.
Predators are big on self-preservation. They don’t go out looking for the biggest, fittest prey, because it is most likely to cause them injury. Instead, they kill off the sick, slow and injured. Sharks keep fish populations healthy through Darwinian evolution, survival of the fittest.
Any mass cull or reduction of the shark population may adversely affect fish supplies for human consumption; disease and over-population reduces quality and eventually quantity.
In Western Australia this year, sharks have killed three people. This looks like a massive increase in attack rates, but is consistent with long-term averages. According to Taronga Zoo’s Australian Shark Attack File, in the 20 years to June 2009 there were 24 shark attack deaths in Australia, or 1.2 per year.
Including the 30 years before that, there were 52 deaths from shark attack over 50 years, at 1.04 per year. During the same period, the population more than doubled from around 10 million to more than 22 million. Today, more people use our beaches and waterways than ever. So where is the corresponding increase in shark attacks? It’s not there. In fact, the percentage chance of being a shark attack casualty is lower than ever.
But statistics never help the casualty and are cold comfort for those left to grieve.
Commonwealth law protects great white sharks. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists them as vulnerable, just one step above endangered. Australia is a world leader in efforts to ensure their conservation.
However, the Western Australian government has jurisdiction over state waters, the three nautical miles (approx 5.5km) closest to the coast. It is this jurisdiction the WA government is exploiting to authorise the killing of the shark, to undermine the conservation efforts of the rest of the country.
So what message is the WA Premier, Colin Barnett, sending? Is he hoping to teach all sharks a lesson? Is he hoping that action of any sort is better than no action? What happened to ecological sustainable governance? What sort of example is he setting for the next generation? Apparently he’s telling them it’s okay to kill endangered species; that knee-jerk reaction takes precedence over reasoned decision-making.
Surely, the resources directed at trapping and killing this shark could fund education and research aimed at understanding and preventing future attacks. Despite their notoriety, there is a lack of information about great white sharks.
In the biggest study of its type, a South African team logged 2088 attacks on seals by great white sharks. A clear majority of these attacks occurred within one hour of sunrise. If similar data existed for WA’s shark population, education could help prevent people being in the water when shark attacks are most likely to occur. If research identified certain locales as feeding zones, recreational water use in those areas could be discouraged.
In the decades after he wrote Jaws, Peter Benchley came to regret the harm he caused sharks. In a 1995 article attributed to him, Benchley concluded:
“The mistake we make, then, either in seeking to destroy sharks or in not caring if we even inadvertently destroy them, is one of cosmic stupidity. If I have one hope, it is that we will come to appreciate and protect these wonderful animals before we manage, through ignorance, stupidity and greed, to wipe them out altogether.”
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