WA shark policy allowing killing of great whites will not be reviewed

Environmental Protection Authority says exemption allowing use of drumlines in case of a ‘serious threat’ is unlikely to significantly affect the environment

Calla Wahlquist

Monday 30 March 2015 20.23 BST

The Environmental Protection Authority will not review Western Australia’s policy of using drumlines to catch sharks that pose a “serious threat” because it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment, the authority’s chairman has said.

WA Greens MP Lynn MacLaren referred the policy to the EPA in January.

It grants fisheries officers an exemption to kill great white sharks, which are protected under federal laws, in the event of a shark attack or when a “high hazard” shark is reported to have a continuous presence near a popular beach.

The definition of a high hazard shark incident was broadened last year when the “imminent threat” policy, introduced in 2012, was rebadged as a “serious threat”.

Conservationists said the new policy could potentially kill more great white sharks than the now-defunct shark cull, which caught 172 sharks before the EPA declared it environmentally unacceptable and it was dumped.

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