I have noticed over the last few years the increasing prevalency by people who to come into contact with them in the course of their activities and their work.

Out here where I am the shark population is out of control.I live in a small fishing village on the Eyre Peninsula around Port Lincoln.

A professional fisherman of some 30+ yrs tells me 'dont let your kids go swimming , not safe'

He contends with what he describes as 'these monsters' most weeks...these animals 'patrol' his boat and he does kill any that threaten him, despite the huge fine involved.

I know these animals are protected but its beyond a joke when regular pple are afraid to let theyre kids go to the beach and have a swim.
My friend describes these animals as having the girth of a small wagon..my wagon in fact..thats some shark and are the norm out here!

They are hanging in close to shore, are aggressive hungry and in numbers way to high.

Maybe we need to rethink our strategy to protect kids on our beaches, our kids are the main prey of these animals.Pple have a right to use the sea and feel safe just as the shark does..but to put the life a a shark above the safety of beaches is just wrong.They can be relocated or culled..professional fisherman(shark) are the ones to safely and expertly carry out this work.

There will be a lot of pple come in here, who dont know the situation from a real life perspective and carry on about how its wrong and cruel etc..but they need to lose pple they know and others in their area they hear of, to know the real human loss perspective of and the reality here.

They say shark attack is rare..Im here to tell you thats rubbish.

We cull koalas, kangaroos, dingoes,foxes, etc when they are becoming unviable..these animals dont prey on humans..so whats the difference here?.Ecology ,cruelty issues etc..what are your thoughts?

I remember writing up a short article about this a few years ago. I basically said that we can expect to see an increase in shark attacks, disease as a consequence of increasing insect populations and poisonous jellyfish. Global warming is good for invertebrates and fish who are cold blooded. It allows them to be more active. The same day I posted that story there was a shark attack in Adelaide and another the same week. A combination of warming ocean waters and increased seal populations since hunting was abolished are the reasons.

We live in a delicate ecological system and everything that happens within such a closed self regulating orb effects everything else. Once the Antarctic melt accelerates and that ice rapidly vanishes we will be without our primary cooling system and the crap will really hit the fan.

Personally I never go very far into the water. I have a lot of respect for sharks.

Yes Wayne, I too seldom go far from shore. Goping into the shark's territory is a risky business - but it's a choice people make.
For Holyshadow to say that kids are the main prey of sharks is just hysterical nonsense.
How many children are killed by sharks each year? How does that compare with other forms child death including infanticide, car crashes and locking kids in cars on a hot day?

The relative harmlessness of sharks is reflected in statistics. In Australia, an average of one person dies each year from a shark attack.

Australians are twice as likely to die after being struck by lighting, 300 times more likely to to drown and 3,000 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident.

For rational beach goers, the fear of sharks is insignificant compared to the threat of: crashing the car on the way to the beach; drowning; being struck by lightening when riding a wave; being knocked unconcious by a big wave, or developing skin cancer from spending too long in the sun.

If swimmers cowered from the ocean for fear of a shark, they might stay in their room and suffer an increased risk of dying as a result of a painting falling off the wall and hitting them on the head

Increasing shark numbers!
1) Are there fish farms in the region?
2) Are the fish stocks in the region declining suddenly(vis. government reducing fishing fleet)?
3) Other underlying enticements or reasons?
There is a balance in nature. When something is in high numbers, there is usually a reason behind it. These reasons are either natural or human induced. I'd suggest the latter.
Increasing shark attacks!
According to the Shark Attack Files, there has been a slight increase over the last few years. I believe (as has been suggested before) that this is due to human demographics (more people moving to the coasts). Most of the attacks are on surfers in southern waters (vis. near seal habitat) who's boards look like seals.
I doubt long term overfishing is a factor because nature responds to drought with starvation (and in sharks- cannibalism). Rapid fish stock loss however may lead to new, riskier territories being sought.