A MAN who killed a juvenile great white shark by ramming it with his boat and beating it to death with a metal pole has been fined more than $18,000.

The fine was handed down in the wake of a Manly Beach protest at shark cullin Western Australia that attracted more than 2000 people from across Sydney at Manly Beach last week.

Witnesses in the shark killing case told fisheries officers Justin Adam Clark used his boat to herd the shark into shallow water in Sussex Inlet, on the NSW South Coast, in January 2012.

The shark, which was badly injured by the boat’s propeller, was then towed to a boat ramp and killed.

media_camera The shark after being killed on a boat ramp.

Clark, 40, from Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, was fined $8000 plus costs of $8865 and $1238 for witness costs after being convicted of harming a threatened species. The matter was heard in Wollongong Local Court last week.

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The master of the boat that towed the shark admitted harming a threatened species and was given a six-month good behaviour bond.

Great white sharks are protected in Australian waters and are listed as a threatened species in NSW.

media_camera A protest against Western Australia's state government's shark killing policy on Manly beach in Sydney. Picture: AP

It is illegal to catch, keep, buy, sell, possess or harm them.

“This conviction sends a strong message that harming of our threatened species will not be tolerated,’’ the NSW Department of Primary Industries said in a statement.

“Everyone needs to know the rules and ignorance is no excuse,’’ the department said.

Great white sharks are found along the NSW coastline and as predators at the top of the food chain play an important role in marine ecosystems.