Despite being a World Heritage-listed marine park, WA's laws provide less protection for sharks in Shark Bay than those in the south west of the state. The Shark Bay tiger sharks are an unlikely ally in preventing climate change, as they protect the marine park's vast seagrass meadows, which stretch across an area greater than the size of Perth's metropolitan area, and capture and store more carbon than forests can. The meadows are a key food source for turtles and as a predator, tiger sharks stop the turtles over-feeding on the seagrass beds. The hand-written letter Mr Deschamps received from Sir Attenborough Sir David Attenborough's production team visited the region in 2017 to film the tiger sharks and explain this process to millions of people around the world for his acclaimed Blue Planet II documentary series.

Episode five features how the sharks play a crucial role in maintaining the area's ecosystem and fighting global warming. Mr Deschamps said the publicity had helped the Shark Ark conservation group's campaign, which at first fell on deaf ears until he began sharing the economical impacts of inaction on the tourism and fishing industries. "I've been fighting this battle for ten years on an ecological front, and frankly, no ones cares about the environment," he said. "So we changed gears about 18 months ago and since then we've got considerable traction by focusing on economic issues. "We're not hippies, we're not left-wing nut jobs, we are farmers, fisherman, hunters, 4WD-ers, and we are a big part in Shark Bay of the $2.4 billion recreational fishing industry in Western Australia."

Former commercial fisherman and founder of Shark Ark conservation group, Leon Deschamps. He said shark beach fishing was harming Monkey Mia's dolphin family, which was a major contributor to the area's $100 million tourism industry, by luring sharks into shallow waters where they attacked dolphins. The region's fishing industry is also vulnerable to global warming impacts. "In the Shark Bay world heritage area, where the laws are more than a quarter of a century old, you can come and kill as many sharks as you like ... you can chop their jaws out, as long as you only fish your bag limit of three a day," Mr Deschamps said. "There's nothing protecting them so it's our laws first and foremost that need to be looked at.

Loading "At the very least, give us the same protection the rest of the state has got, which would be nice considering we're a marine park. "Or even better, the Fisheries Minister could do what Sir Attenborough is asking for and what we're asking for, which is protect all sharks here." In the state's southern region, tiger sharks above a certain size are protected, and cannot be recreationally fished. WA fisheries minister, Dave Kelly, said he would welcome a comprehensive proposal from Shark Ark conservation group on the issue.