Experts reject demands for shark cull after Coogee attack: ‘No silver bullet’

Exclusive: Experts say a mass killing of sharks in the wake of Saturday’s shark attack is “no silver bullet” and will do little to make swimmers safer, despite repeated calls for a cull.

Young mum Leah Stewart, 35, was bitten by a large great white shark on Saturday morning and sustained serious wounds to her arm and leg. She remains in a critical condition, and her family say her arm has had to be amputated.

To date, more than $225,000 has been raised for Stewart via a GoFundme, where her family say the proceeds will go towards funding her recovery and the use of prosthetics.

Following her attack, several prominent politicians and beachgoers called for a cull of shark numbers - but experts say it will do little to prevent attacks.

“It’s a very rare event, it’s really tragic, and it’s terribly sad for the poor woman who was bitten,” Robert Harcourt, emeritus professor of marine ecology at Macquarie University, told nine.com.au.

“But additional culls are probably not going to make any difference.”

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Tony Abbott was not alone in his calls for a cull. Nationals MP David Littleproud said “we have to” cull sharks, and NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane called for a review into shark numbers.

“It’s so wrong that we don’t cull sharks after attacks,” Abbott said hours after the attack.

“It’s so wrong that we don’t have a commercial shark fishery given the explosion in shark numbers, and it’s so wrong that we don’t put people before sharks.”

NSW already operates a shark culling program in the form of shark nets which are designed to catch and kill sharks near popular beaches.

They’re in the water from early September until late March to keep sharks away from beach-goers but bites and deaths still occur even when nets are in place.

In fact, data shows that the rate of shark bites is no lower at netted beaches, and about 40 per cent of sharks are caught on the beach side of nets.

“We saw a fatality earlier in this year at Dee Why when nets were still in the water, which is case in point as to why culling doesn’t work,” Dr Leonardo Guida, from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, told nine.com.au.

It is also legal to fish bull sharks in Australia, though regulations vary by state and territory.

Several other species of shark, including great whites, are protected in Australian waters.

While additional culling may reduce the density of sharks and could possibly reduce the risk of bites, it won’t remove the risk entirely.

“A shark cull is like putting a blindfold on and aimlessly killing random sharks,” wildlife scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta told nine.com.au.

“It’s not the solution, nor an educated response to mitigation.”

Nothing will ever completely remove the risk of shark bites, unless Australia is willing to kill every shark in the ocean - which would be an ecological catastrophe.

“Sharks are typically apex predators that keep food webs in check and in balance, and if we remove too many, we can see food webs ultimately become unstable and collapse,” Guida said.

“If we want healthy oceans and vibrant oceans on which we depend on for work, play, and culture, healthy populations of sharks are fundamental to that.”

But people calling for shark culls aren’t always thinking about the science behind shark attacks or the environmental impacts.

Often, they’re just scared and angry.

“Shark culls might make people feel good today, tomorrow, in a week, but it won’t achieve what everyone wants, and that is improved beach safety,” Guida said.

Harcourt said Aussies who want to hunt down and kill sharks after incidents like the one at Coogee over the weekend aren’t always looking to reduce the risk of future attacks; some just want retribution.

But that doesn’t serve people or sharks.

“There’s no silver bullet to preventing a shark bite, the best we can do is have multiple solutions that collectively reduce that risk,” Guida said.

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Harcourt agreed, adding that Australia has much more sophisticated ways to manage shark risk now.

“We should work with 21st century technology, not 19th century technology, which is what culling is,” he said.

Shark-spotting drones over popular beaches can watch for sharks and provide early warnings for beach-goers to get out of the water.

Public education can help protect swimmers, and surfers can use proven shark deterrent solutions like Ocean Guardian’s Shark Shield.

Pirotta advocated for investment into science to better understand how the ocean is changing, how sharks respond to this change, and track their movements.

“It’s never going to be a zero risk, and that’s that’s the important thing for people to remember,” Harcourt said.

“You can’t eliminate the risk altogether, in the same way that we haven’t eliminated all risk from car crashes, yet we all drive all the time.”