Thousands of West Australians rallied at Perth's Cottesloe beach on Saturday, calling for an end to the state government's contentious "catch-and-kill" shark policy.



At the same time thousands more protesters gathered on Manly beach in Sydney carrying placards, wearing foam shark fins and chanting "stop the cull!".



Hundreds of people also attended rallies in Glenelg, in Adelaide's south-west, at beaches in Victoria and Queensland and in New Zealand.



The protest came hours after an under-size two-metre shark, believed to be a tiger shark, was pulled from a baited drum line off Leighton beach by Fisheries officers.



The animal, the second to be killed under the program, was dumped further offshore.



The policy, introduced after a fatal attack off Gracetown in November, intends to target tiger, bull and great white sharks longer than three metres that come within a kilometre of the shore.



Earlier on Saturday, a 19-year-old woman was issued a move-on noticed after she attached herself with a thumb lock to a Fisheries vessel at Fremantle boat harbour. She is expected to be later summonsed for trespassing.



Another rally at Cottesloe, the home suburb of WA premier Colin Barnett, on January 4 drew an estimated 4,500 protesters while the event on Saturday attracted about 6,000 people with speakers including Greens leader Christine Milne and state Labor leader Mark McGowan.



"Rights, rights, rights for great whites," the crowd chanted.



One placard read: "Sharks are more important than human recreation."



The Liberal-led government believes a string of fatal attacks in WA waters in recent years has dented tourism, particularly the diving industry, and says beachgoers must be protected.



But Virgin Airlines boss Sir Richard Branson, who is fighting China's shark fin trade, told a local radio station on Friday that the catch-and-kill policy would backfire, driving away tourism.



Barnett, who is currently in Africa for a mining conference, has come under immense pressure to call off the cull, including having the windows of his Cottesloe office smashed by a protester.







"I'm really angry and incensed," she said. "We are going into their [sharks'] environment. Why can't we co-exist?"



She said more people were killed by falling coconuts every year than by sharks.



Shark expert Paul Sharp said the baited lines could increase the chances of an attack.



"Simply having those baits in the water will result in excited and stimulated sharks," he said. "Like any other animal, when they are excited there is a greater risk of an accident happening."

The baited drumlines are scheduled to remain in Perth's metropolitan and south-west waters until April 30.

