Locals Rally to Support our Great White Sharks

I went to the anti shark cull protest at Cottesloe Beach yesterday with my lovely friend Siobhan, and 6,000 others, and several police who also seemed to be enjoying their beach trip. Hope the horses got to cool off with a swim!

It was great to see so many wonderful people, out to argue for Barnett to listen to science, and know that culling sharks will have serious ecological consequences. For all that the Liberal party may claim to be the fiscally conservative party, it's clear they haven't done any sort of accounting for how removing our ocean's apex predators will effect our oceans. 

There were so many great signs and catchphrases ―‪ as we have logic, reason, and compassion on our side, there was a lot to draw upon. Here are some of my favourites:

Some good Finding Nemo inspired efforts ("Fish are Friends", "Save Bruce and Friends...")

There was and excellent example of argumentum ad absurdum (taking an argument to it's furthest logical conclusion to demonstrate its absurdity) going on with "Let's Nuke 'Em From Orbit" / "It's the Only Way to be Sure". I think it just might be my favourite, because I love a clever understanding of rhetoric.

"It's Culling Barnett Time: Save our Sharks" (by Artists Anonymous)

"No Shark Cull / Save Our Great Whites / MC Hammerhead Says: 'You Can't Cull This'"

"Scared of Sharks? Get a Pool... Cull Barnett."

"Feed Him to the Sharks."

 

Then there's this sign, which would have been amazing enough for it's slogan of "Stop Barnett's Meat Curtain Madness", except for the fact that sometime after I started taking crowd sharks, the guy standing in front of it mysteriously gained a cockatoo.

On the topic of the "Meat Curtain Madness" of Barnett dangling shark bait to lure in large sharks, an excellent point was raised in the question that, if this is actually going to protect swimmers, rather than put them at risk, why are the baited hooks being removed for the annual swim to Rottnest Island?

 These guys just had the cutest shark suits!

The following protest sign shots aren't mine, see sources.

Some surfers out to support sharks: "Don't Bait Our Mates!" / "I Want U! Barnett"

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"You Can't Fix Stupid , But You Can Vote it Out."

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And diver Meryl Larkin and her shark friend also were protesting the cull ("SOS: Save Our Sharks")

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My sign (named “Sharkley”) was purely visual, however, as I am not able to express with words the beauty of these creatures in any more articulate manner, than is apparent from looking at the sharks themselves. Sharkley did wind up online on the UKHuffington Post article however, so it seems that others also can see the appeal in looking at sharks:

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On the whole, it was a great show of opposition, and while I hope Barnett will crumble quickly, I know I (and others), are gearing up for further protests, and some locals have been doing amazing work to remove bait from the hooks, which have already caught and killed unintended animals (including a young shark which died on the hook), and intentionally been used to slaughter a female Tiger shark on Australia Day. No one has been killed by a Tiger shark attack in the last 50 years, and they are a threatened species.