Shark cull plans for Western Australia

I came across this story in the Nature journal today and the mere thought of it disgusted me. 
The Western Australian Government have recently announced a $6.85 million plan to cull sharks that come too close to the shore in order to reduce attacks on humans. $2 million is set to be allocated to the tracking and destroying of the sharks, with a further $2 million being allocated to the setting of traps to kill any sharks that come too close to the shore. 

The plan, which is set to be put in place in January 2014, will include setting drum lines - a line of baited hooks - a kilometer offshore aiming to kill any sharks that come too close to the shore. It will also arrange 'management zones' around some of Western Australia's most popular beaches in which any shark that enters the area will be killed. 

This plan is supposed to reduce attacks on humans that take to the water for recreation however is likely to severely damage population numbers of the species being hunted.
The three species most commonly known to attack humans are the infamous Great White, the Tiger Shark and the Bull shark; all three being listed as threatened by the IUCN with the Great White being listed as vulnerable to extinction. 
George Burgess, a shark researcher from the Florida Museum of Natural History, rightly states that "If they take enough sharks out of the water, sure it’s going to reduce shark attacks", but how many will need to be killed before a difference can be seen? 

Currently the average number of shark attacks per year in Australia is 15, with a study from 2011 showing that fatalities were as low as 1.1 per year on average over the past 20 years. 
Some may say that these numbers are too high, however I think people need to remember that the ocean is their habitat - not ours. 

Not only will this cull damage shark population numbers, it may also have a hugely detrimental effect on the marine ecosystems that they survive in and may also be dangerous to other species, such as Dolphins, that are common in those areas. 

I was shocked to hear that three shark control programs are currently in place worldwide; two in Australia (in Queensland and New South Wales) and the other in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. However, with this region of Western Australia thought to be a migration route for Great Whites, the plans for this new 'control' program has caused uproar once again. 

Besides being environmentally irresponsible and totally archaic behaviour, this new plan also goes against current legislation that protects Great Whites in Commonwealth and WA waters. 

I urge all of you reading this to go and SIGN this petition to try and stop this plan going ahead. It appears that humans need reminding that they do not own this world, and that every species has as much right to live on this earth as we do. Humans are not marine animals and we should not alter such a delicate environment to suit our needs.