them and we don’t want you to kill them.’ Anthony Joyce, a surfer who once had his foot caught in a shark’s mouth, said: “The number of sharks they are going to kill is going to make no difference.” The state government will not say how many sharks they have killed, but some people say that sharks smaller than three metres were released after they were caught on drumlines, floating drums fixed to the sea bed with bait on hooks underneath them. Conservationists say there is no evidence the cull will reduce the number of shark attacks on humans, because no other cull has only used drumlines. Researchers at the University of Western Australia say the increased number of shark attacks in the state may be because Western Australia has the fastest-growing population in Australia, not because of a rising number of sharks. Richard Peirce, of the UK-based conservation charity, the Shark Trust, said that the cull would not work and could bring more predators towards the coast. “The activity in Western Australia is adding to the human tragedy of shark attacks. It is very sad that a government has ignored the best advice and chosen a method that is ineffective and counterproductive,” he said, “and, even if they monitor drumlines through the day, leaving the lines in at night could attract other predators to the area, attracted by those sharks and other species hooked and