It wasn't a matter of if but when there would be another shark attack in West Australian waters. And now we've had two fatal ones in quick succession.

Not surprisingly there's pressure on the government to act. That's why they've placed baited drum lines off Perth's northern beaches to try and hook the noah responsible for the Mindarie attack.

It's a targeted action and seems like a pretty mild, almost symbolic response to what happened. But even this is seen as some sort of crime against nature by the shark huggers of Sea Shepherd, who have been monitoring the lines' placement. 

The reaction on both sides of the shark issue seems pretty low key presently given that two humans have actually lost their lives -- and in an undeniably horrific and gruesome way. But I think that's got a lot to do with the fact that it's the coldest time of the year. So very few people are even heading to the beach, let alone swimming in the ocean.

That said, there's no doubt the threat is playing on the minds of many beach loving "sandgropers", and more than a few will be having nightmares about it. Politically, it's not on the front burner yet. But these recent tragedies have certainly placed it on the back burner. And that's a significant development because for couple of years -- during which there were no fatal attacks -- it was pretty much off the cooker completely. 

So, everything is primed for the shark wars to flare up again. If there's another attack during or in the lead up to summer then it's very likely we'll see a return to the political argy bargy that started a few years ago and peaked in 2014. It was quite a memorable time and you can find several posts about it here.