The most recent fatal encounter between a shark and a surfer off the coast of Western Australia is a tragic loss of human life. It prompted a Western Australian government reaction to “hunt and kill” the…
Australia has signed up to three international agreements to outlaw shark finning, but sharks still wash up minus fins.
Alex Hofford/EPA
Another critically endangered grey nurse shark has washed up on a northern NSW beach, with its fins removed. Shark fins are valued at more than A$400 per kilogram. This high market value encourages the…
A Great White shark like the one suspected of fatally attacking WA surfer Ben Linden.
Wikicommons
The latest fatal shark bite on a surfer, north of Perth, is another in a string of terrible and random tragedies that have befallen Western Australia in the past two years. This seems to be an escalating…
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, was arrested last week in Frankfurt, Germany, on an international arrest warrant issued by the Costa Rican government…
Scientists are clear that tuna catch needs to be cut, but figuring out who will fish less and where is much trickier.
AAP
The eighth meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission concluded in Guam on Friday 30 March 2012. Five hundred delegates from more than 40 countries argued for a week about how to reduce…
A WA police officer holds a surfboard recovered after a fatal attack on a man at Gracetown beach last year.
AAP/Mogens Johansen
It is received wisdom that many shark attacks take place because the ocean predators “mistake” surfers for seals. But this assumption does not recognise what quick and efficient predators they are. The…
A White Shark feeds on a whale carcass off a Perth metropolitan beach in 2009. This was happening before Homo Sapiens existed.
AAP/Channel10
The vast majority of Australians live in coastal cities. This means most of us have sharks as neighbours. Living alongside sharks in metropolitan cities in Australia requires urban resilience. Unlike birds…
Western Australia’s new dedication to shark research is good news for sharks, and for beachgoers.
autumn_leaf
Public concern following the recent wave of shark attacks in WA initially prompted the government to respond with suggestions of a shark cull to reduce numbers in a misguided attempt to improve public…
With a bit of public education, more people will learn when swimming should be avoided.
EPA/Nic Bothma
Three recent shark attacks in Western Australian waters have led some politicians in WA to request the culling of the sharks involved, and the increase of fisheries quotas for sharks. What no politician…
Culling sharks is unlikely to make our beaches safer.
Hermanus Backpackers
In Western Australia, politicians and members of the public are calling for a shark cull in response to the state’s recent shark attack fatalities. The most recent of these attacks was on a diver off the…
Shark nets have been proven to hurt sharks, but does that help humans?
AAP
Western Australia’s Cottesloe Beach has been closed due to concerns a swimmer there was taken by a great white shark. The public is understandably worried, but the local mayor says no shark nets will be…
Marine Biologist, South African National Parks (SANParks); Honorary Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity