THE hunt for a Great White believed to have killed a swimmer has been called off after his family said he would not want the animal destroyed.
Brian Guest, 51, a keen diver, and campaigner for the protection of sharks, was attacked as he was snorkeling with his son south of Perth on Australia’s west coast, on Saturday.
Mr Guest’s son Daniel, 24, was reported to have said: “Dad and all the family sort of knew that one day this or something similar may happen and it was always dad’s wish that if it happened the creature not be destroyed.”
Mr Guest had previously made clear his love of the water and said that he did not think sharks should be killed to reduce the risk to swimmers.
So that is the needless slaughter of one shark prevented. If only some Australian politicians could be so forward thinking.
Earlier this year the Australian Marine Conservation Society launched a campaign to target plans by the Queensland Government to define a directed, commercial shark fishery in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef that would see the slaughter of thousands of sharks. The fins of many of these animals end up exported to the international shark fin trade.
This comes at the very time when shark populations are facing a critical period for their survival and shows a remarkably short-sighted view considering the GBR is the premier dive spot we all want to visit and seeing sharks is a diver's dream.
Maybe it's time for the dive community to vote with its fins and boycott Australia. If the people of Indonesia can set the example (see earlier post) why can't the Australian Government follow suit? A question for the Hon Peter Garrett, MP Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts perhaps?
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