The WA problem - never a good time to discuss but here goes.

Since March 2014 I have been sending a letter around, initially to the WA Premier's Office, since then to WA Federal Members and WA Opposition State Members - Shadow Minister for Fisheries etc, and as well as other coastal recreation bodies. ( I even managed to bail up Mark MGowan at a pre-xmas function) In that letter I requested that all non-scientific forms of shark cage diving activities be banned in the southern waters of Australia. Note, shark cage diving activities are already banned in West Australia. This request is based on the premise that uncontrolled shark cage activities should be recognised as effectively conditioning sharks to treat humans that are in the shark's domain as an agressor or antagonistic threat. More recently via the media we are getting regular updates on how far ranging these creatures are. Tagging has demonstrated that individual sharks range from South Australia to Ningaloo, and in some cases across to South Africa. Sharks that have been attempting to access humans in cages in South Australia may be back in WA waters within 2 weeks.

The picture is clear even if the science hasnt caught up.

This initiative requires our WA Premier to go into bat for us over east, but so far he seems to not have taken this on board. What I'm suggesting is that some of you who agree that this proposed control measure has merit should lodge your own concerns with the WA Govt members and help apply some pressure.

Whats my stake in this? I have surfed, windsurfed, snorkelled and swam in waters from Esperance to Exmouth for 40 years. In the last month I have windsurfed up at Gero and surfed down south. I have also been at one stage a very active advocate for better coastal management in a regional coastal city, very involved at many levels. And yes, I have been involved in creating Govt Policy. So please give me a little credit and have a quick think before launching into a flaming smack-down.