Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty drew fire last week for suggesting that the county initiate a
“targeted, localized, shark hazard mitigation strategy” that would include the catching and killing of sharks around the Cape Cod area. “This proposal entails use of baited drum lines being deployed near popular beaches using hooks designed to catch great white sharks.
Large sharks found hooked but still alive are shot and their bodies discarded at sea.”
The proposal came after an uptick in shark sightings around the cape. But his proposal is not only cruel, it is likely not to work.
As data shows, after one of the country’s largest shark culling efforts in Hawaii in the late 1960s, shark bites actually became even more prevalent.
Additionally, sharks are already hunted at a dangerously high level. They play an important part in the ocean's ecosystem and without them there would be serious ecological repercussions. We do not want to send the message that man can simply kill animals that inconvenience their leisure or income. Not now,
when more and more animals are facing extinction and human-wild animal interactions are likely to increase as our population grows.
For the moment Mr. Beaty has said he has put his proposal on an "indefinite interim freeze" while he waits for alternatives. Yet, that doesn’t guarantee that he won’t try again.
We must learn to live with the animals with which we share our planet, there is no other way. Please sign the petition and let’s tell Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty to find a different, humane and environmentally friendly solution to Cape Cod’s shark “problem”.
