ACTIVISTS say they have explosive footage of stingrays hooked on WA's controversial shark-kill drum lines in the South-West.

The drum lines were deployed on Saturday afternoon and members of the Animal Rescue Team and West Australians for Shark Conservation say they visited the baited hooks in a rubber inflatable that night and again more recently.

Animal Rescue Team spokeswoman Amy-Lea Wilkins said she was still reviewing the footage from the expedition to verify what it showed.

But she said it appeared almost all the drumlines had hooked "distressed animals", which the activists freed.

The rescue team included a vet and a marine biologist.

"At this stage it appears that every single drum line the Animal Rescue Team encountered, they were rescuing distressed animals," she said.

"It is definite. These claims from the Government and the contractor that there will be no by-catch are simply wrong.

"We definitely have confirmation of them rescuing stingrays from the drum lines.

"There was not one drum line where they encountered a bait with nothing on it. Every hook had an animal."

Ms Wilkins said the footage was still being reviewed and verified before it would be released.

Under the policy introduced following a string of fatal attacks in WA waters, any great white shark, tiger shark or bull shark longer than 3m caught on drum lines set by a commercial fisherman in the South West region or by the Department of Fisheries in metropolitan Perth will be put down.

The fisherman contracted to set and check the drum lines has previously said he did not believe by-catch would be an issue because the hooks he was using were too large for rays, dolphins or turtles to be caught on.

This morning, he said he could not comment on the latest claims and referred any questions to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

PerthNow was on hand to watch the drum lines being deployed on Saturday and, less than two hours after they were set, a very large bull ray was seen nibbling on one bait, but it did not become hooked.

As the state Opposition said it would consider retaining the policy if it wins the next election, West Australians for Shark Conservation spokesman Ross Weir said the first shark killing had strengthened the group's resolve to make sure there were no more.