Tag Archives: shark fishery

Reopening Western Australia’s shark fishery could boost seafood supply and public safety

339trm2w-1386737351Reopening Western Australia’s metropolitan shark fishery could benefit public safety and give a much needed boost to the supply of premium seafood, according to a fishing industry chief. Western Australian Fishing Industry Council chief executive, John Harrison, has welcomed a call by Premier Colin Barnett for a scientific assessment of the Perth coast fishery’s closure in 2007, saying that reopening the commercial fishery may produce knock-on benefits for the public. Following a spate of recent attacks, fisheries and environmental experts have been asked to re-examine research to see if there is any link between the 2007 closure of the fishery and the increasing prevalence of great whites off Western Australia’s south west. “Political pressures caused the unwarranted closure of the metropolitan shark fishery that stretches from Lancelin to south of Mandurah in 2007,” Mr Harrison said. Read the rest here 18:53