Ian K said..
What I don't get is why the hunt for this particular shark? The accounts you read are that mostly the shark takes a bite and spits out the victim. Isn't the shark that's tried human flesh but didn't like it the shark that's least likely to bite again? All animals I've encountered are pretty quick to learn and remember what's edible and what's not.
On the other hand if sharks did find people edible, word would quickly get out amongst the thousands of sharks out there, we're such an easy catch next to a seal, we'd lose hundreds next week.
I think some sharks bite because they just have a 'bitey' nature.
A particular shark might be just naturally inquisitive, or aggressive, or anything else which might make it more likely to bite, even if the species is not normally inclined that way.
In the case of GW's, they are normally more aggressive so it doesn't take a big deviation from their normal characteristics to entice them to give anything and everything a bit of a fanging.
Thus, even though they might not normally like eating people, it doesn't cost them anything to give us a bite just out of curiosity.
I base this view on almost all other species I am familiar with.
Cattle, kangaroos, magpies, reptiles,..people,... the whole spectrum of life.
You get placid animals and you get less placid animals,. and you get aggressive animals.
None of them have any intention of eating people but some seem to have a greater dispensation towards roughing us up.
Sharks are no exception and whether they intend to eat us or not, the fact is, even being the subject of their curious investigation can be fatal.
To claim that we are not their favorite food ignores the obvious fact that to the person being attacked, it makes no difference if it was a mistake or not.
Looking at a couple of other species, bulls and magpies.
Bulls don't eat people and mostly don't bother people, however, sometimes even a normally nice bull will decide to give you a bit of a nudge.
From an 800kg bull, a bit of a nudge can give you injuries and can be life threatening.
However, you also get some bulls which will habitually go out of their way to find you and rough you up.
They soon end up as sausage meat simply because there is a good chance they will pass on that 'angry' gene to their offspring, and the paddock is a lot safer without them, and their offspring.
The cattle ecosystem is not wrecked by their removal, even if it was an otherwise good bull.
The same with magpies.
We have hundreds of them and now, none of them swoop and attack, even in mid nesting season.
They used too.
One or two would always swoop down and attack if you walked past what they considered 'their' territory,.. which was extensive.
Removing just one, the main offender, with an air rifle fixed the problem and we still have hundreds of them left.
You can now walk anywhere at any time without so much as a single attack and it has remained that way for about the last ten years.
I could go on but the message is the same.
In all probability we have only a very few sharks that for some reason are more inclined to attack people.
For minimal cost, far less than the ineffective millions we are throwing at it now, simply remove each and every shark which is in close proximity to the last attack AS SOON AS THE ATTACK HAPPENS..
Don't waste time going to a committee to get approval. By then it is quite probable that you will kill the wrong shark.
Give the job to local fishermen who can be there the same day.
He probably knows the area and the business far better than others and is more likely to get an immediate result.
There are a few in the Augusta area who could do the job emminently well and be there in hours.
The removal of such a small number of sharks will have no effect at all on the survival of the species.
In fact it will improve it because it will remove the constant call for all out culling.
All the argument about funding studies and research is no more than snouts in the trough and it is coming at the cost of peoples lives.
Fix the problem first, and then do the research if you want.
To allow the attacks to keep happening just to justify the research is criminal.
Anyway, I said it all last year. It will probably neeed to be said again next year.
I should just do a cut and paste from last years thread.
That's what makes it sad.
Thats my point. 
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