NSW North Coast locals have voted “overwhelmingly” for a partial shark cull after a huge number of attacks and sightings have shaken regular beachgoers, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
The vote occurred at a community meeting on Monday night, where Ballina shire mayor, David Wright, said “I’ve never seen anything like it” despite living on the coast all his life.
“People who have surfed every morning for 40 years are not going in. People are pulling out of holidays from caravan parks and other accommodation,” said Wright.
“If you’ve seen the Mick Fanning footage, that’s happened 10 or 11 times in this area this year.”
More than 11 attacks have occurred, with surfer Tadashi Nakahara mauled to death by a shark in February.
Two men – Matt Lee and Craig Ison – are still in hospital battling injuries from their attacks and another surfer was knocked from his board in Suffolk Park, near Byron Bay, on Tuesday.
Seven great white sharks have been spotted recently by the helicopter Ballina Council have been paying to patrol the beaches each weekend, reports the SMH.
And they’re hardly small, with each estimated between three and five metres.
