A shark behaviour expert has strongly criticised former Prime Minister Tony Abbott for his call to cull sharks following a serious attack at Coogee Beach in Sydney, stating that Abbott “doesn’t understand the science.”
The victim, a woman in her 30s, remains in a critical but stable condition after being bitten on the leg and arm by what is believed to be a great white shark on Saturday morning. Abbott took to social media to argue that it is “so wrong that we don’t cull sharks after attacks” and advocated for the establishment of a dedicated shark fishery.
Emeritus Professor Rob Harcourt, who heads the Marine Predator Research Group at Macquarie University, dismissed the idea of a cull as ineffective. “Tony Abbott doesn’t understand risk, he does not understand climate change, and he doesn’t understand the science when he calls for a cull,” Harcourt told the Guardian. “What’s the point in a cull? A cull won’t change the risk unless you completely remove white sharks from the ocean. It’s not feasible and it would be an ecological catastrophe.”
Harcourt emphasised that the attack was a rare and tragic incident, but added that calls for a cull are not supported by evidence. “It’s a knee jerk reaction,” he said.
Professor Culum Brown, a fish behaviour researcher at Macquarie University, described Abbott’s proposal as “a very naive way of scoring political points.” He urged a shift towards coexistence with nature rather than an outdated approach of annihilation. “We should be looking at ways we can coexist with nature. We should not be having this 18th century approach to annihilating nature because it threatens us in some way,” Brown said.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns confirmed that the great white shark is a protected species and ruled out a cull. “I’m not convinced it would work and we’ve certainly had no expert evidence suggesting to us that we could ward away great whites from our beaches as a result of a cull,” Minns stated. He noted that sharks can travel vast distances, potentially from New Zealand or across the Pacific, and called for a rethink of the state’s shark protection strategies, including the use of new technologies like drones.
Harcourt advocated for drones as a practical tool to reduce bite risks. “If you put drones over a beach and then call people in [when sharks are spotted] then you are less likely to be bitten,” he said. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority temporarily lifted a ban on drone use for shark surveillance at Coogee, which is near Sydney Airport flight paths.
Dr Daryl McPhee from Bond University, who researches shark bite trends, suggested that the attack could have been avoided if drones had been operational. “Had drones been able to fly, this is one bite that could have been avoided,” he said. McPhee noted that bites on patrolled beaches are extremely rare due to constant monitoring. He highlighted a rise in shark bite incidents in New South Wales from an average of 0.6 per year between 1980 and 1999 to 4.16 currently, attributing this to increased human water activity and growing whale populations attracting more great whites.
Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist at Humane World for Animals, argued that culls are ineffective because sharks are migratory. He warned that baiting sharks could increase activity and risk, and noted that since 2012, state shark nets have killed 174 great whites, 40 bull sharks, and 42 tiger sharks.
