I reckon some folk will have their "I call Strawman" defence ready after merely reading the title, however there is some parallels and points from both topics worth slowing down and looking at in context.
I heard some interesting comments on talk back media and online chatter and was pretty stunned about a few of the arguments against the drum lines to catch and kill sharks. One particular one popped up several times. That being that sharks were vital for healthy seas and without healthy seas we would have no oxygen and we would all die. Now that is the line of thinking distilled down to its barest bones and in that particular state we can see a good deal of invalidity. So when Great White Pointers hit low numbers decades ago and were made a protected species, we were actually looking down the barrel of climatic planet apocalypse? I don't recall that argument back then and I think immediately of the destruction of bee numbers in a number of overseas countries that has got so bad, native and domestic bee species are being exported to foreign countries to help pollination in crop production alone. Now bees and big sharks are 2 completely different issues, two completely different and unrelated problems, but think its wrong to say that bees are less important than the shark threat to us or the threat we pose to sharks. The bee calamity is not new and if you google "threats to bees" I think you'll find enough reading material to get you through till the next Christmas period. Urban sprawl and the loss of habitat, increase in pesticide use (some illegal) and then there's a raft of diseases and parasites knocking bees off in serious numbers. Its affecting native flora and fauna in a number of overseas countries and it is already affecting the viability of agriculture.
Its serious. So too a number of other even more pressing issues.
Sharks...well the drum lines are to manage numbers, not got the latest numbers but last I heard one shark died before it could be released, one was shot and dumped further out to sea and one was released. I suspect the numbers will rise significantly in short time. It is however not the eradication of a species, its population control, its managing the numbers to decrease the risk to swimmers and lessen the hazard. Now lets not bring up strawman...ahh what the heck, bring him in. Is it a strawman to say that life on earth, due to oxygen depletion, due to the impending falling shark numbers? Well it sure is odd...
The emotion running at a Perth beach where its said 6000 people rolled up to protest the cull programme raised a number of big questions and before I draw a potential tenuous link to Live Export I think its helpful to pour the sunlight on the Shark Cull issue.
2 issues popped up on talk back radio, Perth based ABC 720AM radio featured a horrendous story on child molestation in an eastern wheatbelt town, where a serial offender ended up in a small town, whilst on bail for 10 offences and committed more offences. The local population were unaware of the threat that had arrived in town, or to highlight a worse fact, local police were not made aware. The father of a victim spoke and it was heart breaking. The inefficiencies of the system in WA helped leave small children unprotected and allowed them to be attacked.
The talkback host Geoff Hutchinson made a salient point. 6000 people rally on the coast over one of nature's apex predators that has attacked 7 people in 3 years, yet how many of those shark defenders will march over the horrible injustice of child molestation in the eastern wheatbelt?
I'm not linking child abuse to sharks but it is actually a fair question from the helicopter vantage point above.
How is it that people can rally in such big numbers on a beach, about an issue that happens on their very loved beach but they cannot rally anywhere about a heinous crime against the most vulnerable in our community, those that should be well protected so they can grow and age unhindered by sexual predators? I think it could actually be part of the 1st World Country problems we see hit by so regularly.
Depression is lower in impoverished 3rd world countries than say Australia. 3rd world countries tend to not be passionate about the frivolous nor tend to have gravity apportioned via celebrities and social media. I don't think 3rd world nations and communities, who can be closer to lower life expectancy or work harder to survive let alone hope to thrive tend to get up in arms about oxygen depletion due to a shark cull.
It seems an oddity of this 1st world country that social media is a driver of the quick group think on Social Media. Its worth mentioning that Egyptian Arab Spring type uprising was very much fuelled and orchestrated via social media. In Cuba, where things still aren't going swimmingly for the people, no such social media groundswell is possible. Smartphones don't work in Cuba, the internet connections they do have cost roughly a dollar a minute placing it well above the affordability of most of their nation. Now when I hear of the Animal Activists using the emotion soaked guilt card "we're advocates for the speechless" I think of Cuba, North Korea and a number of other countries where free speech is outlawed and all other public speech is fully controlled by the authorities. When I see the comments "We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves" I have to remind myself they're not thinking, worrying or speaking for Cubans, Koreans or anyone else...they're talking about animals raised in food production.
It is worth mentioning, the TV Programme "River Monsters" showed the host catching large and aggressive sharks in a South African River. A river with a large number of large sharks. They caught a shark or two, tagged it with a tracer tag and kept fishing whilst the authorities began collecting tracking data. Odd part was, within days it was soon showing the clever and aggressive bull sharks have adapted or learned to sit underneath boats that were fishing. Not to attack a human who might jump overboard, but to steal the catch of a large fish on a line. Fish were not depleted, or at least not down to dire low levels, however the Apex Predator has learned where the smart easy catch is. We have no way of knowing, but I do wonder if this is the case with larger sharks off the W.A. coast?
I don't think with all sides citing science, citing the other side has none can put aside the possibility that the sharp rise in attacks isn't a part of sharks coming in closer and chasing easier targets.
Colin Barnett was damned either way and I don't think he handled the media properly in regard to the course he's chosen. Had he done nothing as the 6000 had pushed for and a swimmer been taken not long after I think his political career would be compromised greatly. Politically I don't think he had any choice, he had to approve the drums lines. Its something the eastern states has had in some places up to 40 years. I think he under estimated the Social Media response which does have the ability of enraging and mobilising large numbers of people in very short time without a great deal of proper detail.
Its a shark cull but only in the areas of highly (human) populated beaches. It is not shark eradication or species extinction policy in action. Its about catching sharks and destroying certain types and sizes...however there will be unintentional kills but numbers are monitored and constantly assessed. Its a management tool, it is not setting sea mines by the millions and attaching shark attractants to them.
I just wonder about the lack of species loyalty.
I just wonder was the huge mobilisation a result of fast working social media working with less than the full facts and preying on emotion.
I just wonder had an anti-child abuse rally pencilled in on the same day, say one kilometre from the shark rally on the beach, would numbers be any different at the beach.
I just wonder whether there is a worldview hiding amongst the crowds that's helping to shift the masses a particular way in regards our role and connection with other species. A worldview that claims moral high ground, whilst being very ethically challenged at its core.
I just wonder do people of that worldview run amongst those who oppose Live Export yet have very little personal experience or knowledge about it.
I wonder, I really do wonder.
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