Australia Surfer Killed by Great White Shark

At Independent UK, "Let us kill great whites, says Western Australia as protected species claims its fifth victim":

Western Australia called on the federal government yesterday to lift a ban on the fishing of great white sharks following an unprecedented fifth death in its waters within less than a year.

Speaking after a 24 year old surfer, Ben Linden, was bitten in half by a "massive" shark on Saturday, the state's Fisheries Minister, Norman Moore, said the spate of fatal attacks was "cause for great alarm". He added that he was "open to any suggestions from anybody as to where we go to now, because we seriously have got a problem".

The killing of Mr Linden, who was paddling his board near remote Wedge Island, 100 miles north of Perth, has cemented the west coast's reputation as the world's deadliest shark attack zone. A hunt for the fish that killed him, believed to be up to 16 feet long, was called off yesterday afternoon. Ministers had ordered any shark of that size to be killed on sight.

A jet-skier who witnessed the attack and tried to retrieve Mr Linden's remains said the shark went for him. "By the time I got out there, half of him had been taken and the shark was circling," Matt Holmes, 22, told the Australian TV channel ABC. "There was blood everywhere. I reached to grab the body … but as I did that, the shark came back and nudged the jet-ski to try to knock me off."

After looping around, Mr Holmes returned to the scene. "I just thought about his family and if he had kids," he said. "I just wanted to get him to shore. [But] when I came back the second time, it took the rest of him." The shark - which other surfers had noticed over the previous four days and nicknamed "Brutus" because of its size - was last seen heading out to deeper waters.

Also at the Sydney Morning Herald, "Order to destroy 'massive' shark that killed Perth surfer Ben Linden."