Drumline trial begins across infamous WA surf break

Western Australia’s Smart Drumline trial began today in the hope of making swimmers safer along the state’s coast.

The four-million-dollar trial sees contractors catch great white sharks with bait, tag them with GPS trackers and then release the animals one kilometre from the shore.

“We know we can catch sharks, we know we can tag them, but what we don’t know is does that actually reduce the changes of a shark attack,” Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly said.

The data collected from the trackers will be closely monitored by independent scientist every four months, which will then influence the government’s decision on whether or not the drumlines should continue beyond the trial.

There is some opposition to the trial, with some people believing the bait being used will likely only attract tiger sharks.

“Salmon was used a lot in Barnett’s trial,” surfer Keith Halman said.

“We should like to see a lot of different baits used, like tuna heads.”

If a shark is caught and tagged, beach alarms will ring up and down the coast near Margaret River.