Boycott Tourism to WA until the State Government revokes the use of shark-killing drum lines

Hon Colin Barnett, Premier of Western Australia; and

Hon Ken Baston, WA Minister for Agriculture and Food; Fisheries; and

Hon Greg Hunt, Federal Minister for the Environment

BOYCOTT TOURISM TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA

We, the undersigned, pledge that we live outside of Western Australia and actively pledge not to travel to Western Australia for recreational or tourism purposes until the State Government revokes the use of shark-killing drum lines off Western Australian beaches. 

Western Australia is rightly world-renowned for its pristine beaches and incredible abundance of underwater life. It boasts over 10,000km of coastline - the largest of any Australian state - and each year thousands of tourists choose to come to Western Australia to experience its natural aquatic wonders. In the 2012/13 financial year, tourism is estimated to have injected $7.5 billion dollars into the Western Australian economy, and provides employment for 89,000 people^[i].

Western Australian waters are a haven for marine life of all types, and range from the northern tropical coral reefs to southern temperate maritime marine areas. Due to their geographic isolation and a relatively low population, this marine environment is an enviable and irreplaceable asset of International importance.

Despite this, the Western Australian Government recently to installed drum lines in order to catch and kill sharks off the metropolitan and South-West beaches of Western Australia. Drum lines are a line of baited hooks set 1 kilometre offshore designed to catch sharks- more specifically the Great White Shark, which are a protected species under both State and Federal law and vulnerable to extinction. Once caught, these sharks are shot, dragged out into deeper water and dumped. These drum lines are in response to a number of recent (and tragic) deaths in the area as a result of shark attack. Fearful that shark attacks may impact the tourism industry, and wishing to be seen to be tackling the problem (despite the lack of any quantifiable research or data that drum lines have any impact on the reduction of shark attack accidents) the State Government has implemented a knee-jerk policy of ‘shark mitigation’ which has now begun- the first shark killed under this policy died on Australia Day (26th January 2014). 

Importantly, these drum lines will not only catch and kill Great White Sharks over 3 metres (incidentally the main breeding stock, as the Great White Shark takes a long time to reach sexual maturity) but also other types of shark, including many which are completely harmless. These drum lines will also catch dolphins, whales, killer whales, large fish such as tuna, turtles, rays and indeed anything which is unlucky enough to take the bait^[ii]. In the case of marine mammals, death will be as the result of drowning- as the dolphin or whale will not be able to surface in order to breathe. The State Government will be enforcing a 50m exclusion zone around all lines in an effort to stop footage of the process being witnessed by the public, and anyone caught tampering with the lines has also been threatened with a $25,000 fine.

By implementing this policy, the State Government is in breach of its own legislation governing the protection of Great White Sharks- listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources^[iii] and the Australian Government Department of the Environment^[iv] and as a ‘totally protected fish’ by the Western Australian Department of Fisheries’ own Management Act^[v]. This is also a breach of Australian Commonwealth legislation^[vi] with Great White Sharks being in fact listed on the Australian Government’s Department of Environment website as: rare or likely to become extinct under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 and protected under Schedule 46 of the Fisheries Resources Management Act 1994.^[vii]

Incredibly, in 2013, the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities released a report entitled the Recovery Plan for the White Shark^[viii]; which lists the WA Department of Fisheries as both a member of the previous National Shark Recovery Group (NSRC), but also as one of the organisations tasked with evaluating the implementation of the Recovery Plan. This would seem to be a radical conflict of interest considering that WA Fisheries have now decided- with disregard for all other stakeholders involved in the project- to kill rather than save the sharks which it has been tasked to protect.  

By failing to intervene, and indeed recently granting an exemption to the Western Australian Government to carry out this policy, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt and the Australian Government have failed in their duty to enforce the law and the will of the people of Australia as our elected representatives. This should rightly bring shame upon both the State and Commonwealth Governments and condemnation from the international community- which is where you come in.

By signing this petition, you are confirming that you are opposed to the Western Australian Government’s shark mitigation policy of baited drum lines off Western Australian beaches.

IMPORTANT- This petition is specifically designed and addressed to the Premier of Western Australia, the WA Minister for Agriculture and Food; Fisheries and Federal Minister for the Environment from people who live OUTSIDE of Western Australia (Internationally or Interstate) who are making a pledge not to visit Western Australia until the State Government revokes the use of shark-killing drum lines. By doing so, you are letting the people who are allowing this policy to be carried out know that their decisions are directly leading to your decision not to visit Western Australia and spend your money here. Therefore this is money that the State and Federal Governments are choosing, through their own actions, to remove from the Western Australian economy.

In defence of his decision to grant an exemption to the Western Australian Government to carry out this policy, Minister Hunt released in his statement that:   ‘A loss of confidence in water-based activities impacts on tourism and other leisure-based businesses impacting on the Australian economy, making this impact a matter of national significant^[ix] (sic)’

By signing this petition you will be making it clear that the very tourism dollars which Premier Barnett and Minster Hunt are endeavouring to protect with this misguided, ill-researched and unpopular policy are instead going to cost tourist dollars- your tourist dollars. Tourist dollars which will not go towards funding the killing of sharks and other marine creatures. The average International tourist holidaying in Australia stays for 18 nights in the country and spends $4,346 whilst here- it will not take too long for this to get expensive^[x].

I wish to end by noting that BOTH sides of this argument acknowledge that shark attacks are a terrible event, and our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in these tragic accidents. This petition in no way suggests that we agree with shark attacks taking place, however the unfortunate reality is that in Australia - a country surrounded by water and blessed beyond comprehension with marine treasures, and regardless of the method engaged in trying to stop shark attacks happening - these tragic accidents will still occur. What is instead required is research and investment into technologies which reduce the risk of shark attack- without removing sharks. Shark shields, shark barriers (not nets) camouflage wetsuits, education, tagging, shark monitoring and warning systems- THAT is what the people of Western Australia are calling for- not this- but in the face of a State Government which seems to be beyond listening to the people, as is often the case, it is money (or in this case the lack of it) which may ultimately make the difference.  

As a high-profile advocate of this cause put it at the most recent protest against the drum line policy in Perth on 4 January 2014 “If sharks wanted to eat us they could. They’d be eating us every single day. We’re ungainly and uncoordinated in the water, they’d be waiting out there for us to go swimming”. This does not happen. We are not sought out by sharks as prey and interactions with them are both extremely rare and almost always a case of mistaken identity. Sharks are simply doing what they do, and unfortunately every now and then it will mean someone may be taken from us- that is the choice that we make when we enter the water. We cannot simply kill sharks indiscriminately because there is a chance that at some point one will kill a person. As has been shown time and time again^[xi], when you remove the apex predator from the top of the food chain, the entire balance of the ecosystem is disrupted. Unfortunately in this case, there is every chance that by the time the State Government realises the catastrophic damage it has been done, there may well be no Great White Sharks left to reintroduce. That is why we must act now.

With your help we can put enough pressure on the State and Commonwealth Governments of Australia as well as the authorities responsible for these areas to hopefully make them change their minds.

I thank you for your support and ask that you pass this petition on to as many like-minded people who live outside of Western Australia as you can. This need not be a long boycott- the more people who sign, the quicker the Government may get the message. For locals, there is a public protest rally at Cottesloe Beach on Saturday, 1st February 2014 to oppose this policy- details are below^[xii].

When a person visits Western Australia, they should be able to look out from its beautiful beaches into the Indian Ocean and simply admire it for it’s beauty- without having to wonder what poor creature is currently dying on the end of that drum line float. As a percentage of the hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people who enter the water each year in Australia, a shark attack is such an unlikely event as to make a policy such as this scientifically and academically questionable at best and morally reprehensible and vicious at worst.  

Yours respectfully

One Less Tourist

^[i] 2012/13 Annual Report, Tourism Western Australia.

^[ii] http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/drum-lines-kill-harmless-species-report-20131224-2zvtk.html

^[iii] http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3855/0

^[iv] http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=64470

^[v] Fish Resources Management Act 1994

^[vi] Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

^[vii] http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=64470

^[viii] http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/ce979f1b-dcaf-4f16-9e13-010d1f62a4a3/files/white-shark.pdf

^[ix] http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greg-hunt-grants-wa-exemption-for-shark-cull-plan-20140121-315zk.html#ixzz2r2DD3t5R

^[x] http://www.tra.gov.au/documents/ivs/International-Visitors-in-Australia-March-2013.pdf Tables 1 and 15

^[xi] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031029064909.htm

^[xii] https://www.facebook.com/events/195833717281009/?ref=22