Fisherman offers help for shark cull

A South West fisherman has offered to cull white sharks for free should they present an imminent threat to human life.

Bunbury skipper Nick Soulos said he would not profit from shark hunting because he considered it to be a “community service”.

Mr Soulos was approached by the Department of Fisheries to help should a kill order be issued, but knocked back the offer due to conditions in the tender document.

“We will be notifying the City of Busselton and City of Bunbury that if there is a threat to the public and a kill order is issued we will go in and cull for nothing, ” he said.

“We’re not interested in making money and we don’t want to be seen shark hunting for no good reason.

“There has to be an imminent threat to the community and it would have to come from the (two) City councils.”

The City of Busselton did not say if it would take Mr Soulos up on his offer, stating it could not issue any order to kill.

The Department of Fisheries confirmed it was seeking to contract commercial fishermen who would be willing to catch and remove a shark in the event of a kill order being issued and was awaiting their responses.

Fisheries regional services executive director Bruno Mezzatesta said the director-general would determine the location for setting capture gear and specify the size and species of shark to be taken.

Dunsborough fisherman Allan Miles told the Times he had not been contacted by Fisheries, but he “wouldn’t have a problem with culling white sharks”.

“White sharks should never have been fully protected, ” he said. “The Government needs to sit down with the commercial fishing industry and work out a sensible approach.”

Western Australians for Shark Conservation vice-president Melissa Smith condemned the recruitment of “contract killers”.

“In Queensland it resulted in the indiscriminate killing of sharks and swimmers were no safer, ” she said.