article about white pointers
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/20431805/mates-loss-returns-to-haunt-diver/
an interesting article about white pointers
During this time he had also taken up shark-fishing licences. His shark boats would head to near the South Australian border to fish for school sharks, Mr Warner said.
"In the November, December, January period the school sharks come in and pup, just on the border and slightly over the border," he said.
"During that time the white pointers came in and pupped in the same area."
Mr Warner said the WA boats were not allowed to fish in SA waters but the SA boats caught vast numbers of great whites.
It was effectively a cull, and it happened for many years, when the abalone divers had no problems with the great whites. It all changed in the mid-1990s when the area over the border was declared a marine park and fishing was prohibited in SA waters.
Mr Warner said the numbers of great whites had been increasing ever since.
"When I hear people say the numbers aren't increasing, and we are only seeing more sharks because there's more people in the water, it is absolute rubbish," he said.
"We have always had six abalone divers here who never saw any pointers and now we have six divers who see pointers on a regular basis.
"We have a pilot who picks up abalone for us, he sees pointers on a regular basis from the air, tourists see them from the cliff tops, amateur fishermen see them from their dinghies, amateur divers have seen them.
"The numbers are mind- boggling compared to what they were in the early 90s and there's going to be more and more fatalities unless we cull them."
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
I agree with this guy. It's
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Willlo
Posts: 1490
Date Joined: 07/10/11
Yep was told the same thing
Yep was told the same thing by another old salt fisho a couple of years ago,end of an era sales in paddle pools are on the way up lol.
Call Sign - BZ785
Haynes Hunter Prowler CC
Walfootrot
Posts: 1385
Date Joined: 23/07/12
lol, here we go again, cull
lol, here we go again, cull the sharks. merry xmas to all
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
If there ARE...
...more great whites, what might the reason be? The very nature of their reproductive cycle (one pup produced every 2-3 years, according to Valerie Taylor) prevents them from overpopulating...low birth rates are probably the biggest controller of all top end predators.
My guess is that there are not greater numbers of them right across the board...more likely changes to the quantity and migration patterns of their food source are causing them to come into contact with people more frequently. It's been mentioned on here before; the two month demersal ban, and more importantly the 4 month Cockburn Sound snapper ban, have no doubt increased the amount of shark food. I'll even go so far as to say that the greater amount of whales and seals (thank you Marine Mammal Protection Act) is also bringing the sharks closer to us.
hooty
Posts: 198
Date Joined: 25/05/10
I wouldnt of thought there
I wouldnt of thought there would be more snapper in the sound now than in 1960 or 1970 when there was not a lot of fishing pressure in Cockburn and Warnbro sound. Never heard of any white sharks around then or the 80,s-90,s. I would of also thought that the marine mammal protection act would been equally effective on both the east and wet coasts of which large numbers of whales migrate up and down every year.
Why more W.A attacks only ?
carnarvonite
Posts: 8672
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Pink Snapper
Their main food isn't pink snapper, its seals and bigger prey. Its only coincidence that they find themselves in Cockburn sound, possibly by the small distance from the seal colony on Carnac or whales coming down from the north and exiting out between Rotto and Garden islands.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Right on the money
Totally agree with Canarvonites comment I don't believe a GW is going to chase around schools of fish for a feed, it is going to be looking for much larger prey with a lot of fat on it.
paula8519
Posts: 101
Date Joined: 09/03/10
Whites
Carnarvonites comments need to be responded to, up to 2 meters of length the main diet is fish, as they mature they change to the higher calorie diet, as to co incidence in location no way the whites have well documented movement patterns in many different world locations that are linked to food availability. In the Mediterean Black sea population, movement is in tandem with tuna schools with documeted foraging pathways from Algeria to the Black sea. As a licenced pro fishermen (since 1973) my observations are similar to Lee Warners. I believe their numbers are on the rise based on the number of personal and crew contacts. We fish the same areas from Esperance to Exmouth, use the same techniques and if anything with less days at sea as I get older, the only thing that has changed is the number of sightings which have increased over time. Forget the comments of the arm chair experts ask those who earn a living by working in the sea.
paul a
Cardinal
Posts: 364
Date Joined: 28/05/12
correct!
correct!
Sponsored by Atomic HardZ Lures
carnarvonite
Posts: 8672
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Response
To my knowledge there has only been one documented white pointer under 2 metres caught off the west Australian coast and if I'm wrong Brian Scimone got it off Naturaliste in his net.
As for being an armchair expert, I pro fished for many years up and down the coast, crayfishing, wetlining and shark both demersal netting and longlining up north. The last two stints, skippering a 24 metre boat between Exmouth and east of Hedland for 7 years then 3 years netting down around the capes so I think I know a little of their habits.
perth fisher
Posts: 132
Date Joined: 02/06/11
from talking to various
from talking to various people involved in the fishing industry i know i would also agree with carnarvonite
we now have far more whales and seals in parts of WA, and this will attract great whites to our region
however if there was culling in the past, and not for recent years, then this will also increase GW numbers in our region
axey45
Posts: 1758
Date Joined: 26/11/13
The snapper numbers have
The snapper numbers have increased since ban has been put in place in the sounds and if you have ever seen them school for spawning, which i have in warnbro sound on top all the way down about 30ft or more deep, like a underwater tornado, have heard of walls of them in cockburn sound, these fish mainly 10lb to 14lb and bigger are a easy meal for great whites. We have reports on here of gws taking hooked snapper in cockburn sound and reports on twitter surf life saving west aust, detected in both sounds mainly in spawn season. The whales may have brought them past but they seem to be more regular now, the burley of cray pots eg TUNA HEADS plus snapper fishermen eg TUNA OIL in burley mix which i use and cage diving ventures use TUNA blood, TUNA, and people in cages which i been one. Wife n i saw a 4.5m gw in 42ft of water behind bird island 2km out in our 4.2m dingy aug 2010 saw whale week before. Been fishing in rocko for 30 odd years pro n amateur, blue lagoon mussel part owner told me he has seen 1m great white sharks darting in n out of the long lines just before ban started, they are born 1m in lenght, so i think they have a new resturant to eat at now and bring there young, for they eat for free the bigger ones will have to pay the price. Maybe
marrisy
Posts: 202
Date Joined: 08/09/11
I agree with Carnarvonite
in near 40 years of diving, in the last 15 years the shark numbers are greater. Up until the mid 90's , to see a shark was almost unheard of. Now, we have even called of a dive in particular areas when we have seen sharks as we prepared to dive. I feel cage diving attracts them to boats, they sometimes follow the boat. I dived a lot of the south coast, a fair bit out of Busso, and Bunbury, and a bit out from Perth. Up until the 90;s I averaged around 110 hours under water per year. since the late 90's less than 15. After 4 close calls , got unlucky and now have scars from a nip on the back of one leg. The small whites were ok to eat from memory, before the ban.
Marrisy.