Australia mulls end to ban on great white fishing after surfer Ben Linden mauled to death

File photo of a great white shark. / Wikimedia Commons

(CBS News) The brutal mauling of a 24-year-old surfer in the waters off Western Australia over the weekend  has local officials pondering an end to a ban on killing great whites, according to a report from news.com.au.

Witnesses have said Ben Linden, from Perth, was surfing with a friend on Saturday when he was literally bitten in two by a white shark between 12 and 15 feet long.

Linden was the fifth person in 10 months to be killed by a shark in the region.

"Five fatalities in Western Australia is unprecedented and cause for great alarm," Western Australia Fisheries Minister Norman Moore told news.com.au.

The attacks, and the reports that Linden was the latest victim of a shark dubbed "Brutus" by local surfers, also have Australian tourism officials worried.

A Jet Ski rider witnessed the incident and attempted to rescue Linden.

Matt Holmes, 22, said he saw a large amount of blood in the water and described trying to pull Linden's body from the water as a "massive, massive white shark" tried to nudge him off his jet ski.

A search was conducted for Linden's remains, but was called off Sunday afternoon as bad weather moved in. The beach was to remain closed until Tuesday, according to reports.

Moore told news.com.au that he would be willing to lift the protection order on great whites if the federal government were to do the same.

"It won't be helping our tourism industry and those people who want to come here to enjoy an ocean experience will be turned away because of this situation," said Moore.

[Luke_AquaticRehab]

Why surf in mammal eating sharks hunting grounds? They need the white water cover to hunt seals and hunt blind using the Ampulle of Lorenzini on their noses to hone in on the vibration of a med size animal like surfer/seal... Only difference is they swallow seals.

[canis-vulpes]

To understand the mentality of shark-defenders, one needs to dig a bit deeper into their worldview. These are the same people who defend pitbulls by blaming the victims, or who would gladly shut down any industry and allow any number of humans to starve to death to defend an endangered lizard, or some other species.

These people believe, as did the fictitious Agent Smith, that humanity is a virus, worthy of extermination rather than protection. That we are ecological rapists and destroyers of the planet. Thus are they willing to take the side of unlimited human abortion, while calling for the execution of a human who kicks a pregnant dog, causing it to miscarry. These are the people who experience simultaneous despair and glee during a tragedy like the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. They experience grief at the human suffering they witness on TV, yet hold a smug happiness that there are now a quarter-million less carbon-producing machines ruining the planet.

To think that these people would support sharks over humans is no surprise at all. Reasonable people should wake up and realize that these enrivo-nazis masquerading as conservationists are no one's friends. They would gladly sacrifice the entirety of the human race to preserve gaia. They should be scorned and their ideas ridiculed.

[Luke_AquaticRehab]

Aha you think you can speak for 100s of 1000s of people and not look like an idiot? Some people just think its a good idea to have an apex predator in the ocean to prevent imbalance in lower levels of life. Maybe people should stop surfing there. These large mammal eating sharks need the white water cover to hunt seals. They use the ampulle on their noses to feel vibration and hone in on surfers. They are an ambush predator and need that cover as a seal is a very fast animal. The majority of surfers are bitten and spat out (fact) even though they may die of blood loss. You cannot blame a natural predator for its actions, even if we we're prey (which were are obviously not if you look at the death stats). I think it would be smart for surfers to stop going into mammal eating sharks hunting grounds... BTW I am not a greeny shark protector I have shot sharks with .44 mag powerheads while freediving just incase you want to class me as all those odd things you said above.

[David_Tampa]

How do you get bit by a shark in a swimming pool???? Ever since I saw a 15 to 20 foot hammer head swim under MY boat in MY dock 10 miles from any inlet from salt water, it is a swimming pool for meeeee!

[hillzhavays]

The shark tried to "nudge him off the jet ski" LOL

Someone had a news camera in his face and decided to get a little dramatic. He was holding the shark's food (in this case, half a human). The shark was just nudging him out of the way so he could continue his snack in peace.

Read paragraph 8: "bad weather moved in" - what this tells me is visibility wasn't so good, with some wind on the water and a little chop, time of day factors in too. There is a condition of the ocean we surfer's call "sharky" - textured surface, a little weather, murkyish water, fading light, a little kelp - usually in an area known for sharks, and then add dawn or dusk and viola! you have "sharky" conditions.

Surf then and you are rolling the dice.

[KPeters_from_UK]

Kill the sharks? Great idea...not.

Must we really kill more sharks after all, the Asian market for the tasteless shark fin soup is already killing MILLIONS of sharks every year. I just amazed that there is enough sharks to attack anyone.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

first of all, this is Australian, not the "asian market"......and they have had a ban on hunting great white sharks for quite some time, so therer is no shortage of them, around Australia....the seal population is large, so are the great white sharks.

So, just becuase something is happening in one part of the country, doesn't mean it's the same elsewhere.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

correction: in one part of the world (not country)

[phwtb100]

by commenter777 July 17, 2012 7:16 AM EDT
Sharks eat humans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No they DON'T!! If they did you would never have any survivors (98% of shark attack victims) nor would you find any of the remains of those who didn't survive.

Sharks 'taste' humans and then spit them out.

Only on a VERY, VERY rare occasional will a shark even swallow what he chomped off and the sharks who actually do swallow it are usually found to contain a variety of other things as well... anchors, tin cans, beer bottles, tennis shoes, etc. Like Mikey, some of them will eat anything!

Sharks are not the predator of swimmers Hollywood has made them out to be. Swimmers and surfers all too often LOOK like a turtle and splashing around in the water, like swimmers do, send out the same signals as a fish in distress, with both being on a sharks menu.

I have been a diver for more than 30 years and have encountered numerous sharks while in the water. NONE of them attacked me or anyone I was with so please don't spread rumors to scare people. It does no good for anyone, especially the sharks.

Additionally, in regards to the comment I made about them 'tasting' humans, here's a little FYI for you. Almost ALL sea life will 'taste' you before they bite you. Ever feel anything brush up against your leg while you were in the water? If you say yes, congratulations! You were 'tasted' by something, as most fish, including sharks, can use their skin to "taste" and have not a second thought of doing so at every given opportunity...

[jaijaiwhisper]

I feel really bad for the people that have died and their families (as I would for ANY type of death). Sharks are why I don't swim in oceans (may be irrational but that's just me). So now comes the sad trueth... Sharks have been around since,when, the dinosaurs? They hae evolved into super-predators of THEIR habitat; the top natural predator. People have decided, as with bears, wolves, large cats, other ocean creatures, birds, etc., that we need to assert our "dominance". So, in the case of the shark, people harvest their food, play in their home, exploit them as a tourist attraction, and fish them for sport. When people enter the ocean, we are definitely NOT the dominant ones! So let's just punish the many for our own gratification - people have done it before... the indians being put on reservations, germany invading poland, women as second-class citizens, the extinction of the passenger pigeon, etc. With more and more people utilizing the ocean, it would be prudent to stop being foolish with our behavior (feeding sharks in tourist groups? recreation at prime feeding times? not being aware of our surroundings? ignoring shark warnings?) and learn to live with sharks instead of merely get rid of them for our own gain. I'm a people guy as much as anyone, but I'm also realistic about who and what inhabits this planet.

[opedanderson2]

Imagine. Swimming off the coast of Australia and getting attacked by a shark? Who would have thought of that? What are the chances? (sarc)

The solution? Kill the animals of course. Not, maybe, STAY OUT OF WATER??!!!

I would bet the same people who are suggesting this get onto the highway and speed down the road without a second thought.

[commenter777]

Fishing for great white sharks is the same a fishing for any kind of fish. It all has to do with having enough bait in the water at the right time, at the right place. Sharks eat humans. They are getting accustomed more to seeing people in the water and people will soon be as much on the menu of great whites as seal. Stay out of the water and especially don't get far from shore. Very often when vessels go down in the open ocean humans become shark quisine. You're more likely to get struck by lightning unless your swimming in the open ocean or too far from shore.

[UForgotPoland]

That shark looks like Rush Limbaugh.

[David_Tampa]

Yes it does! and No, I did not forget.