Government of Western Australia
Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Media Monitoring Unit
TRANSCRIPT
DATE: Wednesday, April 18, 2018
TIME: 3.11pm
PROGRAM: ABC Radio Perth – Afternoon (O’SHAUGHNESSY)
SUBJECT: BURROW – Margaret River Pro cancellation
This transcript is produced for information purposes only. Although all care is taken, no warranty as to its accuracy or completeness is given. It is the reader’s responsibility to ensure by independent verification that all information is correct before placing any reliance on it.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Former professional surfer Taj Burrow joins us on the program.
Taj, what do you think about the cancellation?
TAJ BURROW
Oh, it’s pretty devastating news, to be honest. Yeah, I’m still in a bit of shock as I’ve only just heard that, but, yeah, I’d never really thought that it would escalate to cancelling the event. I think it’s kind of silly. I don’t really support it, but yeah, I’m sad. Sad for sure. Sad for the local community, definitely.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah. When you say you think it’s silly, you don’t support it, can you tell me why not?
TAJ BURROW
Umm, I just think the risk is so minimal. Umm… I mean, the… the… probably the waves they surfed on the first day of the event were… were a lot… a lot riskier than… than the possibility of a shark attack. It’s just one of the things that comes with… with surfing, and competing in the ocean. Obviously there… there was some devastating news with, you know, two… two shark attacks in one day, but there’s… there’s… they’re taking on a lot… they’re doing a lot to minimise the risks, with jet skis and drones and… and there’s… there’s… there’s more options as well.
I mean, I work with a company called Smart Marine Systems and… and they have a few options for mitigating sharks and I think if we just… yeah, maybe if the State Government helped out and maybe just applied a few of those mitigating systems, I think it would just be… it would really minimise the risk and everyone would be fine. I mean, even if it’s peace of mind, I just think… yeah, it’s just such a minimal risk, I think that… I think they should have gone ahead and finished the event, a hundred per cent.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
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Do you think there’s a difference, both the surfers that were involved in these incidents on Monday, neither of them were involved in the… in the Pro event. Is there a difference between surfing out on your own and… and being part of a big surfing competition? Is it safer?
TAJ BURROW
Well it’s obviously safer in the competition area because they are taking… they take… they’ve got a few options for… for spotting sharks and they’ve got a lot of people on standby, they’ve got jet skis in the water and, yeah, it’s very well monitored so it’s definitely a lot safer to compete than it would be, yeah, off on your own surfing some obscure place.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah. Now I notice… I noted Kelly Slater said on Twitter that he thought, in his opinion, the event should… should not have been cancelled, but two South American surfers said… who were competing in the event, said they thought it wasn’t safe. So clearly divisive.
TAJ BURROW
Yeah, everyone’s got mixed opinions… yeah. I mean, I just think fine, the risk is… is so minimal that it just seems silly to… to cancel an event. I mean, there’s been lots of shark incidents in the past and events have continued and everyone’s seen what… what Mick… Mick Fanning has been through and what he’s accomplished and I just think, yeah… I think it should go ahead.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah. And is Margaret River/Gracetown considered internationally a particularly shark-y spot, can I say, Taj?
TAJ BURROW
Yeah, I think it is, for sure. I mean, that’s why, I think, it would be good to… to try and implement a few of those shark mitigating options, you know, it greatly affects tourism and it’s such a beautiful amazing part of the Earth that people want to visit, but that is one thing that would be deterring them. And I think it needs some attention.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah, Taj Burrow is our guest on ABC Radio Perth and Western Australia. I’m Jill O’Shaughnessy.
Talk me through a few of those mitigating options that you would like the State Government look at.
TAJ BURROW
Well, there’s a couple of obvious ones. One of them is called a Clever Buoy. It kind of acts as a virtual shark net. It monitors anything that comes into the area that could be KEY: * Spelling indeterminate
Page 2 Transcript threatening. It can… it can gauge the size and the shape of whatever comes into the area and it can even determine, you know, what kind of shark it is and how big it is, and that can send an alert out to whoever may be monitoring the beach or whoever’s going into the water at that beach. Yeah, it just acts as a virtual shark net. That’s the best way to describe it.
Another one, a print, they have a wetsuit that has a print on it that basically makes you invisible to… to large predatory sharks, and they also have a print that you can apply to a surfboard or even apply to any kind of craft that goes into the ocean. And that also makes you invisible to big sharks, especially the great whites which is the one everyone’s, you know, scared of.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah, what do you think about the option of towing the sharks out to deeper ocean?
TAJ BURROW
Towing them out?
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah.
TAJ BURROW
Yeah, I’m not sure if that would work, exactly. That’s a tough one, yeah. Yeah, I’m not sure.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
It’s one of the conversations that’s been had at the moment. I mean, it is a conversation we have in Western Australia and you’ve… obviously, very close to home for you. What… do you ever feel unsafe in the water?
TAJ BURROW
Yeah, I was… like you say, it’s a very heated topic, especially down here. Yeah, I just… I mean, yeah, definitely, you know, it’s considered a fairly shark-y stretch of coast and… and I’ve definitely had moments when I’ve felt uneasy in the water, but I don’t let it affect my day. You know, if I’m going to surf, I’m going to surf, no matter what. I won’t let it change my… change my day. I won’t… I won’t… move my… change my plans around, you know, a surf because I’m concerned about sharks. I won’t let it affect be, but, yeah, it’s on my mind for sure.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah. Now you mentioned how important it is to the local community. Can you tell me a bit about that?
TAJ BURROW
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Well, it’s just a big part of the… the region is… is surfing and ocean sports, and cancelling this event, especially that’s going to affect, you know, local businesses big time as well as just probably tourism into the future for at least an extended period. So, yeah, it affects everyone. It’s sad, it’s sad news. It’s devastating.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Now the WSL has said there’s no plans not to return in the future. But… and you were the part of the conversation last year when there were question marks over… over the event perhaps being downgraded. How confident are you that it… it will continue, that this is just a one-off?
TAJ BURROW
I’m not sure exactly what the WSL plans, as far as returning to Margaret River. Yeah, I can’t really comment. I’m not sure. I really hope they do.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Yeah. But disappointing news today.
TAJ BURROW
Sure is. Yup. Sad for everyone.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Thank you very much for giving us some time, Taj.
TAJ BURROW
That’s okay. You’re welcome. Have a good day.
GILLIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY
Taj Burrow there with his thoughts on cancelling the Margaret River Pro.
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