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File photo: Great White Shark - Source: ONE News -
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The Western Australian government has ordered any great white sharks spotted off the south west coast to be killed.
The order comes after the third fatal shark attack in the space of two months.
The latest victim has been identified by WA police as 32-year-old Texan diver George Thomas Wainwright, who was killed over the weekend.
Earlier this month, 64-year-old businessman Bryn Martin disappeared while swimming at Perth's popular Cottesloe Beach.
Last month, 21-year-old bodyboarder Kyle Burden was killed near Bunker Bay by a 4.5 metre-long shark.
Desperation and dismay has been Australian Fisheries Minister Norman Moore's reaction to the mounting death toll from suspected great white attacks.
Moore said so many fatalities in such a relatively short time was "a very rare event".
"If you can tell me the last time when we had three fatalities in two months then I'd like to know," Moore said.
"This is a unique set of circumstances and I'm desperately ... and indeed praying ... this is not the beginning of a new trend, and we're going to have these on a regular basis.
Historically, sharks kill fewer than one swimmer a year on average in Australian waters.
However, the government has been told by shark experts that the tactic will not work.
Geoff Burgess from Florida University's programme for shark research says there are better ways of approaching the problem than killing sharks.
He says the efforts would be better directed into producing education campaigns for divers and beach users.
Burgess also informed the government that the area of water is well known to be frequented by whales and following white sharks at this time of year.
