Surfing champ against culling

Surfing champ against culling
Fred Pawle, March 02, 2009, The Australian

DON'T cull the sharks, says two-times world surfing champion Tom Carroll. To do so would be a failure of our humanity. "I'd like to think we're beyond blaming sharks for anything," Carroll said yesterday.

"We're human. We've got our fears, and that's another way to act out on the fear, to blame all sharks. That's classic human behaviour, which gets us into more shit, and suddenly we've got no nature left. It makes sense to me to live with the sharks, and help them sustain life. We eat way more fish than they do."

"I've had sharks surrounding me. They seem like dogs - they're just curious. I get mesmerised. I love the look of them. I love the sharks - they only scare the living daylights out of me if they're massive and they're between me and the shore.

"But the fact I get to see it means I know I've got a chance. Fact is, you just don't get to see them if they're going to hit you, and that's what brings so much fear to our imaginative minds."

Carroll says we know too little about sharks to demonise them.

"All we really know is that they're ancient creatures, they're dinosaurs, and their instincts are to eat and conserve energy.