SOMERS residents fear that people fishing for sharks are endangering swimmers.
Baited lines are being carried out to deeper water off the beach by kayaks or dropped from drones.
Mornington Peninsula Shire is helpless to stop the practice and the fisheries department says it is not illegal.
Cr David Gill said luring sharks towards the swimming beach was a “dangerous practice” that the public needed to know about.
“It is of great concern if shark-attracting baiting is occurring off Somers beach.
It increases the chances of lives being put in danger,” he said.
“Apparently there are no state government rules to control [fishing] this near popular beaches.
“We all know that large sharks frequent Western Port, particularly because of seals and penguins around Phillip Island, but they are rarely seen close to our shores.
I think we would all prefer that to continue to be the case.”
Somers Residents Association president said concerns had been raised by “a number of residents”.
“The Somers Residents Association is opposed to any activity which potentially may cause harm to residents and visitors to our idyllic coastal village,” Mr Millen said.
“The placing of baits to attract sharks towards Somers beach is quite obviously a dangerous and thoughtless activity and must be stopped immediately.”
“The SRA will be raising this issue with our state MP asking that steps be taken urgently to prevent further occurrences.”
In response to an email from a resident, the shire’s coastal planner Hayden Forrest said that although the shark fishing was potentially causing danger to water users the shire’s powers ended at the high water mark.
“The shire has recently explored the option of using by-laws to regulate other fishing related matters. This was not able to be progressed as it is the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) who are the responsible authority for managing fishing related activities.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 14 December 2021
