January, activists from Animal Rescue Team and West Australians for Shark Conservation claimed to have recorded video footage of the rescue and release of stingrays caught on the newly set drum lines. The activists challenged the government for downplaying or dismissing the issue of bycatch on drum lines. A fisherman manning the lines said that he believed the hooks were "too large for rays, dolphins or turtles to be caught on". Drum lines deployed in other jurisdictions have been shown to catch dolphins, whales and sea turtles, all of which are fully protected in Australian waters. During the three weeks following the policy's implementation, 66 sharks were caught. Almost 75 per cent of the sharks caught on drum lines were smaller than . Of the 49 undersized sharks, nine were found dead on the hooks and 40 were released alive. Fisheries officers patrolling beaches in Perth and a contractor in the South-West killed 17 sharks longer than . Figures released on 18 February by Fisheries Minister Ken Baston showed 95 per cent of sharks caught were tiger sharks – a total of 63 animals. According to the State Government's SharkSmart website, tiger sharks "may only have been responsible for one shark bite in WA since 1980". Two Mako sharks have also been found dead on the drum lines. On 20 February, the State Government denied allegations that a dolphin had been caught on a drum line. The animal was covered by a tarpaulin, a management response that activists had not seen previously. The Government stated that the animal was a tiger shark. In February, over 10,000 responses were received by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority in response to the catch-and-kill shark policy. For the summer-autumn 2014 season, drum lines remained in place until 30 April 2014. During this period, a total of 172 sharks were caught. Fifty of those were Tiger sharks greater than in length, which were then killed. None of the sharks caught were great whites. Eight other animals were also captured, including stingrays. Events from September 2014 to the present Cessation (end of shark cull) In September 2014, the Western Australian Environment Protection Authority recommended against the setting of drum lines in the summers on 2014–2015 and 2015–16. The WA EPA chairman Paul Vogel said there was too much uncertainty about how the policy, which involved killing sharks longer than , would affect the great white