Smart drum lines to be trialled off South West coast

PIC: The West Australian

Smart drum lines will soon be deployed off our South West coast in a bid to reduce shark attacks.

The 12-month trial, which will be overseen by WA's chief scientist Peter Klinken, will be rolled out off Gracetown, the same area where two people were attacked by sharks earlier this year.

WA Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly said the smart drum line technology uses baited hooks to catch the sharks, but instead of killing them they are tagged and released further offshore.

"It's a non-lethal program, it's a catch, tag, relocate and release program," Mr Kelly told the ABC.

"It's certainly not intended to kill sharks. I don't think the public want us to go down that path.

"I hope that the trial shows that these devices actually do work and they actually makes our beaches safer … we want it to be based on evidence, not just opinion."

The move comes after months of campaigning by surfers including Rick Gerring, whose brother Ben was killed by a great white shark off Falcon in 2016.

"I think it's fantastic news that one, we're going to trial our own drum lines to get some research, and two, being in that area which is a high-risk area," Mr Gerring told the ABC.

"They've been used on the Queensland and New South Wales coasts for many years now.

"Their incident rates have declined, but from what I know and what I've been told, there is still more information that we need.

"That's why I'm grateful that the West Australian Government has taken it on board to do our own trial."

Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged the McGowan Government to introduce the drum line trial and “put people before sharks”.

 

 

 

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