of at sea. The principle behind the policy is to reduce the threat of shark attacks at popular coastal locations. It aims to achieve this by reducing the number of potentially life-threatening sharks by attracting them to baited hooks, rather than to human activity. Following a change in the Western Australian state government in March 2017, the newly elected Premier Mark McGowan and Fisheries Minister David Kelly stated that they do not support the previous governments' drumline policy. In August 2018 this policy was reversed when a 12-month trial of "smart" drumlines was announced. Implementation The use of 72 drum lines to bait and hook large sharks in Western Australian waters was implemented in January 2014. Two "marine monitored areas" have been established, stretching off shore from Quinns to Warnbro in the Perth metropolitan area, and Forest Beach to Cape Naturaliste and Prevelly in the state's south. Sharks larger than found in these areas are to be hunted and killed by professional fishermen. Australia's Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt granted the WA Government a temporary exemption from national environment laws protecting great white sharks, to allow the otherwise illegal acts of harming or killing the species. Ken Baston replaced Buswell as Fisheries minister on 11 December 2013 and is currently the minister responsible for the policy. Cost Leaked documents revealed that the fishermen are being paid $610,000 for 107 days of work setting and maintaining drum lines. The government's suite of shark mitigation measures, which also include increased air patrols, have been estimated to cost $20 million. Support Long term shark control programs using shark nets and/or drumlines have been very successful in reducing the incidence of shark attacks at the protected beaches. In Queensland, there has been only one fatal attack on a controlled beach since 1962, compared to 27 fatal attacks between 1919 and 1961. Statistics from the NSW Department of Primary Industries indicate that before nets were introduced in NSW in 1936 there was an average of one fatal shark attack every year. There has been only one fatal attack on a protected beach since then and that was in 1951. Similarly, between 1943 and 1951 the South African city of Durban experienced seven fatal attacks but there have been none since nets were introduced in 1952. A more recent comparison shows that in South Africa there were three shark attacks, none fatal, at protected beaches in