A shark behaviour expert says Tony Abbott “doesn’t understand the science” after the former prime minister called for sharks to be culled in the wake of an attack at a Sydney beach.
A woman, aged in her 30s, was in a critical but stable condition on Monday after being bitten on the leg and arm by what was thought to be a great white shark on Saturday morning.
Abbott said in a social media video it was “so wrong that we don’t cull sharks after attacks” and said a fishery to catch sharks needed to be established.
Emeritus professor Rob Harcourt, who leads the Marine Predator Research Group at Macquarie University, said a cull of sharks would make no difference to the risk of shark attacks at beaches.
“Tony Abbott doesn’t understand risk, he does not understand climate change, and he doesn’t understand the science when he calls for a cull,” Harcourt told the Guardian.
“What’s the point in a cull? A cull won’t change the risk unless you completely remove white sharks from the ocean. It’s not feasible and it would be an ecological catastrophe.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“This was a rare incident and it’s tragic. But calls for a cull are not based on any evidence that would change the risk. It’s a kneejerk reaction.”
Prof Culum Brown, who researches fish behaviour at Macquarie University, said calls for a shark cull were “a very naive way of scoring political points”.
He said: “We should be looking at ways we can coexist with nature. We should not be having this 18th-century approach to annihilating nature because it threatens us in some way.”
Map of Sydney showing location of Coogee beachCoogee beach in Sydney.The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, pointed out the great white shark is a protected species and ruled out a cull.
“I’m not convinced it would work and we’ve certainly had no expert evidence suggesting to us that we could ward away great whites from our beaches as a result of a cull,” he said.
“Because the reality is for those sharks, they may have come from New Zealand, they may have crossed the Pacific Ocean. I’m not convinced it would work and certainly we haven’t received evidence or information that it would work.”
He said there needed to be a “rethink” on the state’s approach on shark protection, including shark netting and the use of new technology – including drones.
Harcourt said using drones to survey beaches was a more practical way to reduce the risk of bites.
He said: “If you put drones over a beach and then call people in [when sharks are spotted] then you are less likely to be bitten.”
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