Sharks-To be Culled or Not Culled; That is the Question

WHAT right do we have to cull sharks? Why should they be culled anyway? Sharks are
free and living creatures that have the right to enter our beaches at will. They should
not be culled at all.
Earlier this year, WA Premier Colin Barnett introduced the Shark Culling Program to
kill and hunt down all sharks that were more than 3 metres in length and those which
interfered with groups of people. The insertion of the policy was due to number of
fatalities that occurred due to various shark attacks in the past couple of years. The
premier decided to take action by placing this new policy. The policy was generally
received negatively by most Western Australians and they did not accept the fact that
sharks should be culled. Since the commencement of this policy, mass group protests
have been occurring throughout Western Australia and most of the people were
ordinary, middle-class people.
On the other hand, there was a minority of people who definitely approved of this
newly introduced policy. One of the people sided with the Shark Culling Program was
lawyer and former AFL player Brian Sierakowski. He said that this is culling for an
appropriate reason. He believes that this is for the safety of people in the water. Other
supporters claim that sharks dont have the right to disrupt beach areas filled with
people.
It is not the sharks that are causing trouble but the swimmers themselves. Before
entering the water, it is their responsibility to make sure they are safe when entering
the water. If there is a shark warning, they should not enter at all. These accidents
occur because of their hastiness towards warnings and precautions. Beaches do not
belong to us but the sharks because they have been the original inhabitants of these
marine coasts even before our settlement in this once ancient land.
A survey conducted by UMR Research revealed that 80% of Australian opposed
against the shark culling and that only a minuscule 15% of Australians favoured the
shark culling. This just further proves that Australians are in for a massive no with
shark culling.
Without sharks, essentially everything could go out of control. The existence of sharks
in a certain marine environment proposes the fact that an environment is healthy.
They also keep infesting creatures such as rays in control by hunting them down as
prey. Sharks are vital for the economy of Australia because commercial fish species as
tuna will be scarred without sharks.
Sharks may not be the most appealing animal to you but why dont we live alongside
them as friends and respect their existence and role in todays modern society. We
must powerfully take a stand to save the sharks from their inevitable fate.