A shark conservation group Healthy Oceans Need Sharks are concerned that animals could be harmed during the SMART drumline trial off Gracetown.
The WA Government are set to start a SMART drumline trial early next year when 10 devices will be deployed 500 metres offshore along a 11.5 kilometre stretch.
When a shark is hooked on a SMART drumline, a communications unit is triggered sending an alert to authorities who respond immediately to relocate the animal.
A HONS spokesperson said if they were not able to stop the trial they would do all they could to ensure it was conducted as humanly as possible and terminated if an unacceptable number of sharks died or were injured during the trial.
WA’s SMART drumline trial follows a similar trial in NSW to catch, tag and release sharks that are caught on a baited hook. Since the NSW trial began in 2015 only one shark had been found deceased.
South West Safe Shark Group Keith Halnan said there was a lot of misinformation being spread about drumlines and people needed to be aware there was a difference between SMART drumlines and catcher drumlines used in QLD.
Mr Halnan said SMART drumlines allowed sharks to swim in circles after being hooked so air could still circulate through its gills.
The other point Mr Halnan said was the increasing number of great white sharks off the coast and what effect great white numbers was having on other ocean species.
“We are starting to see a bit of it and are talking about the scarring of dolphins from shark attacks around Koombana Bay in Bunbury,” he said.
“We have no idea of their effect on mortality rates of dolphins not to mention stingrays, turtles and other ocean species.
“We do not have solid science on it yet, but if we have increasing great white numbers because they have been a protected species for more than 20 years, they are having an impact on other ocean species.
“On the East Coast surfers on the Northern Beaches of NSW are seeing seeing disappearing pods of dolphins which they have known for years.”
Mr Halnan said tagging of the great whites had given the NSW Government great research data which we did not have here.
“We have no idea what effect increasing great white numbers are having on other ocean species, and I feel the scarring of dolphins in Koombana Bay by shark attacks is the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
“We have to ask ourselves, we are seeing some dolphins with scarring from shark attacks, but what is the mortality rate from that as well?”
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Murdoch University’s Cetacean Research Unit tracked shark attacks on dolphins off the South West coast for more than seven years.
Of the 343 dolphins assessed, nearly 17 per cent of them were found to have had scars and bite wounds arising from encounters with sharks.
Results showed 25 per cent of dolphins in the sheltered waters of Koombana Bay, Leschenault Inlet and Leschenault Estuary were sporting bite wounds compared to just 13 per cent of dolphins spotted in coastal waters.
The incidents of shark attacks on dolphins could be even higher than those documented, as the study could not account for dolphins that may have died from interactions with predatory sharks.
