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October 6, 2026 \u2014 5:39pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Western Australia\u2019s fisheries minister has rebuffed calls to allow for \u201cincidental\u201d capture of great white sharks, as the government almost doubles its shark mitigation spend to boost helicopter and drone patrols at the state\u2019s beaches.<\/p>\n Another $5 million will be spent this financial year on shark mitigation, bringing the total to $12 million, in the wake of a horror fatal attack at Sorrento Beach last month.<\/p>\n Perth father Greg O\u2019Neill was killed by a five-metre great white shark while swimming close to shore in the third fatal attack off WA this year.<\/p>\n And sharks have remained front-of-mind for WA beachgoers, drawn to the shore by a whale carcass that washed up at City Beach last week.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis revealed Surf Life Saving WA would get $2.3 million to increase helicopter patrols, while another $1.2 million would be spent on more beach and drone patrols at Perth beaches during peak times.<\/p>\n The government will also spend $200,000 to investigate alternative drone technology to identify sharks in the water, while Fisheries will get $800,000 to double its shark tagging efforts.<\/p>\n There have been 231 white sharks tagged in WA waters since 2009, 13 of those were tagged this year.<\/p>\n However, Jarvis rebuffed suggestions from retired fisheries scientist Jim Penn to allow for \u201cincidental\u201d capture of white sharks in a bid to keep the predators\u2019 population levels down.<\/p>\n Penn, the state\u2019s former chief fisheries scientist, told media on the weekend that white shark numbers off the WA coast were being underestimated and could be as high as 10,000.<\/p>\n He said the species\u2019 population was kept at \u201ca reasonable\u201d level when they were being \u201cincidentally\u201d caught by shark gill net fishermen, before white sharks were given federal protection in 1999.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it was culling by a different angle, and that needs to be reintroduced,\u201d he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you go back in history, for the 30 years prior to them being protected, there was one shark attack in Western Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the 30 years since, there\u2019s been now 22, so a 22-fold increase. But that\u2019s been ignored, if you like, for reasons of political correctness.\u201d<\/p>\n Jarvis said the idea \u201ca small number of commercial incidental capture\u201d of white sharks would go any way towards shark mitigation was \u201cquite frankly incorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cWe don\u2019t have that many commercial fishermen who are targeting white sharks, there\u2019s no commercial value for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jarvis also questioned the scientist\u2019s understanding of the CSIRO data the WA government relied on to determine shark numbers off the coast.<\/p>\n \u201cThe CSIRO is Australia\u2019s leading science agency, we have a stock assessment from them from 2018, there will be another new stock assessment in May,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Penn asserts that there are more sharks now than there were in 1999. He is correct. That is why white sharks were protected in 1999.\u201d<\/p>\n The fisheries minister also said she did not believe there was an appetite in WA for a cull of white sharks, despite the recent fatal attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason we protected white sharks internationally in 1999 is if you take apex predators out of the marine ecosystem, it has serious flow-on effects to the marine environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will have up-to-date shark numbers from CSIRO, Australia\u2019s leading science agency, by the middle of next year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can have that [culling] conversation at a national level with all the fisheries ministers \u2013 I don\u2019t think that there is an appetite to start culling a shark when we have spent a few decades bringing it back from extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s announcement also included $500,000 to go towards 10 new shark monitoring network receivers.<\/p>\n![\"Fisheries](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0af267308988c60184fe5217c6372b4ee9d14a3c.png\")
Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis.9 News Perth<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/337ad6d663065a9f754f97d5618748eee47eab9daa447fbcd7f4a8a8f8b5ec96.jpeg\")
A 3.7 metre great white shark was tagged and released off Floreat beach last week.DPIRD<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7f2da8585b40e6e7dcb3193b519d3b528b67669110c04509d7dd4571ef5206de.jpeg\")
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