Kill zones with baited lines targeting large sharks such as great whites are being set up in Western Australia. The state government is to hire professional fishermen to catch and kill large sharks that enter a zone within 0.6 mile from shore. The measures follow six deaths in two years from sharks, the most recent last month, when a surfer was killed.Troy Buswell, the state’s fisheries minister, said: “It is not a fear-driven hunt; it is a targeted, localised shark mitigation strategy.” But the scheme has drawn criticism from conservationists, who claim it is an an indiscriminate cull. Piers Verstegen, director of the state’s Conservation Council, claimed: “We can expect to see dolphins, turtles, seals, nurse sharks and a range of other marine life killed off our beaches.”  Don’t think you need to worry about dolphins or turtles, Piers. Great white sharks have been blamed for the majority of incidents. Most of the attacks are on surfers and divers wearing wetsuits, which look similar in the water to seals, the great white’s favourite food. But the shark is  listed as an endangered species in Australia where angling for them in banned in Australia – though the world record is still held by Alf Dean’s 1959 great white of 2,664lb (pictured) caught off south Australia. Incidentally, Dean often used seal meat for bait, as did others like Frank Mundus, who was reckoned to be the model for Quint in the film Jaws. Mundus caught great whites to nearly 3500lb on rod and line off Montauk, New York.