Plummet said...

Well I am completly blase' about kiting in the ocean. I don't give it a second thought.

When people ask me " aren't you afraid of being eaten by a shark"
I say "I have more chance of being killed by a vending machine"

Last time I bought a coke the vending machine didn't bite my legs off. I was formerly in the no killing camp... But I work in safety risk management, and if there is an identifiable risk, i.e an increasing number of attacks over the years and as Darren mentioned a measured increase in sightings of a species known to be human killers in a given area, I am pro culling.

Pussies! How often do you spend in actually the water each 'kiteboarding' session.
I have never heard so much shark hating BS than here in WA!

Totally sad news about that young man.

But seriously suggesting we go and cull great white sharks is just retarded

ezza said...

Plummet said...

Well I am completly blase' about kiting in the ocean. I don't give it a second thought.

When people ask me " aren't you afraid of being eaten by a shark"
I say "I have more chance of being killed by a vending machine"

Last time I bought a coke the vending machine didn't bite my legs off. I was formerly in the no killing camp... But I work in safety risk management, and if there is an identifiable risk, i.e an increasing number of attacks over the years and as Darren mentioned a measured increase in sightings of a species known to be human killers in a given area, I am pro culling.

Working in Risk Management you should also understand the idea that you work at the simplest remedies before attempting the more complex ones. Undertaking shark culls is expensive and time consuming and likely to make little difference. By your rationale the best solution would be for none of us to go in the water at all. That would be the simplest option and most likely to make difference. But would anyone here be willing to implement or participate in this risk mitigation strategy?

Getting worked up about shark attacks has to be about as futile as getting angry about a natural disaster occurring. It's amazing that our egos have got so immense that we have this crazy idea we can control everything.

Do we really need them? Yes, we do.

We as a species need biodiversity to survive. Biologically diverse ecosystems are resilient and flexible. Monocultures - such as wheat fields, salmon farms, and chicken batteries are inherently unstable, vulnerable to epidemics, and require massive inputs of energy (fossil fuels) and other chemicals (antibiotics, pesticides etc) to keep them running. Sustainable harvesting is what we need, or there will be long-term consequences far harsher than our average annual shark-attack toll.

Apex predators are crucial to the health of an ecosystem, and the ocean, like the soil and the atmosphere, needs to be healthy if humans are to survive.

The range of species and food chains/webs existing today took many millions of years to evolve. We need them to survive because we can't replicate biodiversity.

As many of others have said, there are many of other causes of death we could attend to, and though they may not be as spectacular on an individual case basis, the statistics of people dying from lifestyle-related degenerative diseases are truly spectacular.

I'm not saying I'd be happy to be killed by a shark, but that I'd rather take that miniscule risk than risk our species' survival by deluding ourselves into thinking we only need species that have obvious and immediate benefits and that we can do without the rest. Cybernetics 101: part of a complex interactive system can never control the functioning of the whole system. We must learn to participate, not aspire to control.

kill the sharks, kill the great barrier reef, kill australian economy, kill being able to afford new kites each year.

sharks are scavengars that feed on the sick and week. they keep disease down and increase the strength of the genetic pool in fish stocks. do you really want massive disease outbreak killing the australian fishing industry as well?

and do you honestly think a shark is quick enough to catch a kiter or be willing to breach to bite you?

how about before you jump into an unquestionable opinion you do just a little bit of research.

if sharks really wanted to "feed on humans" we would be long gone, no-one would dare enter the water.

good luck keeping a species that migrates such long distances away from certain spots.

and what kind of idiot decided you had to be a tree hugger to be able to think before you act??? how bout we introduce cane toads to kill cane beetles, good idea Mr idiot, those beetles kill one person every year, toads will solve everything.

tgladman said...

a govt funded tagging and tracking system would surely be money well spent? keep an eye on their migration patterns? i see the irwins tag crocs at a cost of $7K per tag, the govt wastes $30K on PS3's for asylum seekers i'm sure they could spare a couple bucks to tag a few man eaters?
but no killing or culling. and east coasters calling west coasters red-necks is the pot calling the kettle black. -alot of us are from the east.

This was done a few years back off SA and indeed may still be active there used to be a link to it on I think another weather based site can't remeber which but one thing I can remeber is how consistent the travel patterns were, no doubt they are territorial. I guess that's one of the better arguements for culling "problem" animals.

A few years back there were a bunch of incidents locally within a couple of months in the same area, anecdotally a similar sized fish had visited the same area in the years before and has been sited since. Hardly science but....

So the stats say that you have a 1 in 3,748067 chance of being killed by a shark.
Is that is stat counting ALL people... of which many don't even live near an ocean?

Stats can be made to say anything.

We are top of the food chain. Sure, we should be humane and preserve biodiversity but if something becomes a problem them we have need to deal with it.

Another sharkl attack and exactly the same bull sh1t debates.

Boring!

Very bad news about the attack though, but the risk we take!

We have the brains and tech to be custodians of the land and sea.

IF we decided to wipe out a species of animal then we could do it. I'd like to see sharks wipe out all humans.

Just by naturals prowess who should rule the earth? Lions, gorillas, elephants? They can all kill a human easily but they are not in charge are they? Like it or not, we are.

Try killing cane toad first :) Not easy, is it? :) Bugs, microorganisms, even harder...Yet, we like to think we are in charge!

I don't get the kill the rogue shark theory. If a shark tastes something it doesn't like
(they say great whites can't survive on our bony bodies) then surely if there smart they won't be back for more. Has a great white ever attacked more than one person
or do they learn after giving it a try

eppo said...

schmik said...

We have the brains and tech to be custodians of the land and sea.

IF we decided to wipe out a species of animal then we could do it. I'd like to see sharks wipe out all humans.

Just by naturals prowess who should rule the earth? Lions, gorillas, elephants? They can all kill a human easily but they are not in charge are they? Like it or not, we are.




how very post war of you. Destroy ecosystems will eventually destroy us.

I didn't say we should do it but history has shown that we could. Sometimes we even manage it by accident.

Let's say we had the tech to deter all sharks from popular beaches... should we do it? Or do they have the same rights to enjoy the beaches as humans? I would keep them away.

here, here dusta.......kill everything we can't control.........stupid bloody humans!

dusta said...

schmik said...


We are top of the food chain. Sure, we should be humane and preserve biodiversity but if something becomes a problem them we have need to deal with it.

but we are not the top of the food chain in the water . Once sharks start coming onto land and killing humans then cull them , until then get back in your box

AKSonline said...

I kinda agree with coreyb,

Since joining our spearfishing club 4 years ago there were only 3 or 4 of the older guys who had ever seen a GWS and I was told it was such a rarity that it was an amazing gift to actually see one.

Nowadays, just 4 years later, they are being spotted fairly regularly by club members and it is now not such a rarity. Knocking off a few of the ones who stray close to the coast wouldn't hurt.

Since their protection, their numbers have swelled quite dramatically. The problem with protecting a top of the food chain predator is that we are wiping out their normal food source for human consumption. This messes up the eco balance.

Just wiping out a species isn't the answer, careful management of the entire marine ecosystem is the key. Seeing as the government couldn
t organize a root in a brothel with a skin full of piss and a $50 note in their hand, what hope have we got of success in this area?

Til then, we lose a human or two every year. Survival tip! Don't ride a shark biscuit.

Condolences to the family and friends of the boy taken.

DM

I am divided on the issue, whenever you get a salty that comes to close to people they get "relocated", not sure how you go about doing that with a GW, when a lion kills a human they get terminated, if a dog malls a kid it gets the needle........I personally would feel better knowing that a problem GW was "out of the way"

The problem faced is that they roam anywhere in the range of 50 000KM from Augusta to Cape of Good Hope.....and what does not help is the bloody idiots dragging surfboards and rubber seals behind the cage dive boats to get them to breach so the tourists on the boat can take photos........

Perhaps they need to install high tech fish finder type devices along the coast that alert the life guard services that a large object is in the area, I have read a number of article about a tagging program but they are not long term as devices fall out and is not a practical exercise but more a research tool for a case study.

I believe August to Sep is the time when they are around the Perth SW and metro areas heading up north!

Perhaps we need to have a GW barbeque every now and then to keep the pests away.....

Deepest condolences to all his friends and family.

Yea we need them Rad because imagine how many less aquaphobes there would be without them.................and that many more kites on the water....not a problem you in your neck of the woods I know.