Australia goes Gung Ho on Great White Sharks

I don't like to openly criticise other countries. We deal with so many international guests that we prefer to just keep our opinion  to ourselves, unlike a lot of sharky related blog sites.

But man oh man, I just cannot understand the Australia's media and some of those who share the following articles mentality. We are in 2010, yet they live in the dark ages when in comes to Great White Sharks. come, on everyone, bring your pitch forks and torches and lets kill some sharks.

ROGUE sharks that attack beachgoers this summer will be hunted down, shot in the head and sawed apart until their spines are severed. OKAY, JUST HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FIND THESE " ROGUE" SHARKS. Do these great whites carry placards on their dorsal fin saying Hi, I have just killed someone swimming in my territory.
Just read the rest of the rubbish below.
The Sunday Times can today reveal the graphic methods put in place by the WA Government's Shark Hazard Committee for dealing with man-eaters.
In a candid interview, WA Department of Fisheries strategic compliance manager and shark committee member Tina Thorne said a rogue shark that attacked a swimmer would be slaughtered if it continued to pose a significant threat to beachgoers and if it could be positively identified as the offending shark.
But the kill order would only be given in "extreme circumstances" as a last resort where there was an immediate danger to the public.
Ms Thorne said fisheries officers would first use a baited drumline and put "attractant" in the water to try to hook the shark. And if you hook the WRONG shark, what then? or are you just gonna kill it, and then say oops.

Then the creature would be hauled aboard a boat where officers would "have to use a large firearm to dispatch the animal". sounds a bit like the KKK
"That is not an easy task, as sharks have very small brains," she said.
Once shot through the head, fisheries personnel would take a final step to ensure the creature was dead by "severing the spinal cord and bleeding it out".
"Even if you hook it, you can't just fly over in a chopper and shoot it because of refraction (of the bullets) in the water," Ms Thorne said.
While the shoot-to-kill methods are operational procedures put in place by the Shark Hazard Committee, Ms Thorne stressed great whites - the species responsible for most fatal attacks - were protected and a special exemption from the law was required by Fisheries Minister Norman Moore to kill one. Dont you just love it. She says she STRESSES that GWS are protected
"It's not something we would take lightly," Ms Thorne said, after a spate of shark sightings and beach closures across Perth this week.
Trying to catch a large shark was extremely dangerous, she said, and in most cases the creatures disappeared into the depths after an attack. WELL, WHERE ELSE MUST IT GO, IT IS THE OCEAN AFTER ALL.
Ms Thorne said in three of the past four fatal attacks in WA the shark responsible was never spotted.
Only after the fatal attack in 2008 on 51-year-old Port Kennedy man Brian Guest did the shark linger.
In that case, there was no immediate danger to other beachgoers, so authorities tried to tag the animal.
The statements about killing sharks angered the family of Mr Guest.
A friend of the family told The Sunday Times Mr Guest's widow Charmaine and son Daniel stuck by their comments that sharks belonged in the marine environment and should not be harmed.
Ms Thorne agreed, saying "they live in the ocean and we don't".
Six people have been killed by sharks in WA in the past 20 years.

Should sharks that kill be shot? Leave a comment below.

Great White sharks have christmas too!

Our son, Adam, who is 2 yrs old, has taken to walking around the house with his Christmas bag. He is very possessive of his toys in it and has even spent the last three nights sleeping with this bag.
I opened the bag yesterday and discovered a great white shark finger puppet, a big great white teddy, an orca, and a dolphin, and his sisters baby doll.

Funny kid!

A trip to Seal Island False Bay

 It was such a gorgeous day yesterday, that we decided to take an improptu trip out in False Bay. We headed off to

Seal Island. The Island was very full, and there where plenty of Bull seals and a lot of mating going on. We also spotted a few dead seal pups in the water.

We then did a little tour hugging the coast and returned back to Simon stown. It was very nice to be out on the water.

No Great White sharks, so we wallowed like hippo's

Rob and I went away for the week end with some friends to " The Baths" in Citrusdal. It was great fun.
Before we left I had to make sure that all the guests I had booked on shark diving trip in Gansbaai for the week- end were sorted out, as we did not have proper cell phone contact and I didnt want any problems.

We wallowed like hippo's in the hot water. The temp was 41'c at the source, but it felt as if the warm water was hotter than that.

We had such great fun, just lazing around the camp site, going for the occassional swim, and during the night, whilst my dad baby sat the sleeping kids, we went to the jaccuzi baths. We couldnt stay in for more than about 15 minutes due to the intense heat of the water. Rob actually became very dizzy and had to sit out for half of the time.

We arrived home to a howling South Easter wind. What a suprise!