THIS IS a letter Bangalow local Jay Kempnich sent to Mike Baird, the Premier of New South Wales earlier this week.
Jay has a strong connection to Byron Bay. Older locals will recall Jay’s grandfather, popular Byron Bay Postmaster, Ted Kempnich, who made sure our mail was delivered on time for many years.
In his letter, Jay tells the Premier that protecting more shark species could well be an unexpected answer to current shark attack problems.
The letter includes Jay’s thoughts on why we are seeing a slight increase in interactions between humans and Great White Sharks on the Far North Coast, and how we can fix it.
Jay says everyone needs to be pushing for a more environmentally friendly way to tackle this issue.
“I really believe my solution has merit, and I hope enough people will agree, especially those who have the power to protect our valuable sharks and other beautiful marine creatures,” says Jay.
Dear Mr Baird:
The recent announcement that the State Government will be implementing shark nets in our local waters has prompted me to write this letter and share with you an idea I have had for some time now, which may explain why there are more shark incidents happening in our area now, and how we can address this. Obviously the simple solution is for people to stay out of the ocean, the shark’s domain. This is not a real answer though, as we are an ocean loving nation and we love being in the water doing our cherished activities, especially here on the North Coast. But the archaic and destructive nets and drum-lines are not the answer.
I have a background in marine ecology, having studied a Bachelor ofScience degree at the University of Queensland in the fields of ecology and marine biology. Sharks have always been of great interest to me, and were the subject matter for much of my university studies. So I am not just any uneducated man with an opinion, I do actually have formal education in this field to back up my ideas.
I am also a very experienced ocean user. I grew up on the Far North Coast and I have spent many thousands of hours in our local waters freediving, spearfishing, surfing, ocean swimming, kayaking, and the list goes on. I have seen hundreds of sharks over the last 25 years and have gained quite a good understanding of their habitats and particularly their behavior. I know and meet a lot of people who have also shared their experiences of shark interactions with me.
Now, to get to the point, my theory on why there are more shark incidents, or “shark attacks” in our local waters is this: We are rightfully protecting Great White Sharks, but not protecting the other large predatory shark species, in particular the Tiger Shark. We need to be protecting more shark species. This may seem counter-intuitive at first, but it really makes a whole lot of sense when you really look at it.
Most of the major shark incidents on the Far North Coast in recent years have been attributed to the Great White Shark, which has been a protected species for over 10 years. Hopefully this protection has been working to help the numbers of White Sharks bounce back, a distinct possibility with the numbers being sighted these days. In this time though, there has been no protection of other large predatory shark species, and the populations of these species continue to decline, mainly through overfishing. One such shark is the Tiger Shark, which was once the main large predatory shark to be found in our coastal waters, found mainly around inshore reefs and headlands. Numbers of these sharks have been dwindling, which has become evident through the lack of sightings of these sharks in recent years, while sightings were common in the past. They no longer fill the role of the main predator in this particular coastal zone niche.
It is an ecological fact that when you remove a key species that fills a particular niche, other species will begin to exploit this niche. In the case of the removal of the Tiger Shark, it seems this niche is now being filled by the increasing numbers of Great White Sharks. It is a very important niche to be filled, but we should really be doing our best to make sure it is the Tiger Shark, and large Whaler Sharks that fill it. My reasoning behind it is this: Tiger Sharks and Whalers are far less dangerous to humans than the Great White Shark, in particular the 3-4m “adolescent” White Sharks.
These “adolescent” Great White Sharks are at an age and size where they are starting to test the waters with their diet, making the transition to larger animals, including mammals. When a human is bitten, it is usually just one quick “test” bite, and only very rarely will the shark come back for a second go. Unfortunately, due to the large size of these sharks, the single bite can be severe enough to cause major damage and sometimes loss of life. On the other hand, Tiger Sharks and Whalers do not eat large mammals and do not go through this phase of testing out large mammals as food. This makes them far less likely to attack a human, and therefore a far better shark to have around in our inshore areas, where humans frequent.
By protecting these other shark species we can try to get the natural ecological balance of the inshore areas back to “normal”, and help keep the Great White Sharks away from these areas. Furthermore, Tiger Sharks are very territorial and will protect their reefs from other sharks, helping keep the White Sharks away. There is also evidence that the Tiger Sharks will prey on young Great White Sharks, which in turn will naturally keep each species at the correct ecologically sustainable population levels. Sharks are very important to our oceans and we need to protect more than just the Great Whites to get the correct balance.
I know that it will take some time for the Tiger Shark populations to get back to where they were, but starting protection as soon as possible will obviously get this natural balance happening sooner, and more crucially, before it is too late. I really think this avenue needs to be properly explored, along with the many other ideas that others out there must have. Nets or drum-lines are not the answer. All they will do is kill more of these shark species we need to get back in our inshore coastal areas, along with countless other marine creatures, including threatened turtle species.
Please do not put nets in our waters. Please explore all other avenues, because there are better ways. I truly believe my idea would work to massively reduce the risk of shark attacks on humans, particularly fatal ones. Please explore all other avenues before jumping in and employing an ecologically disastrous system from the past. Human life is very important, but we must also do what is best for the planet. When a natural solution is available, it should always be used.
Sincerely,
Jay Kempnich BSc (Ecology & Marine Biology)