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A lemon shark swims above shark attack policy researcher from the University of Sydney Christopher Neff at the Sydney Aquarium April 9, 2014. Australia ranks high in global charts of shark attacks and is currently running an aggressive culling drive against the marine predator, but a new survey conducted by Neff says many Australians aren't really that worried about them although the largest shark culling drive in the world is currently under way in Western Australia, where attacks are most common. Forty-five sharks have been killed there so far this year after being caught on baited drum lines the state government wants to extend for three years. Reuters/David Gray

The year has seen multiple shark attacks on surfers on the NSW North Coast and this has led local businessmen and surfers to back a controlled shark cull as a temporary measure. The referendum was reached on Monday night at a heated meeting attended by 200-odd people, who threatened to take matters into their own hands if no steps are taken by the concerned authorities.

Residents of Lennox Head, Ballina and Evans Head voted for the cull with overwhelming majority. According to Don Munro, president of Lennox Head-Ballina Boardriders Club, about 95 percent of the 200 people who attended the meeting voted for “controlled management or partial cull” of the sharks “that are hanging around,” the Daily Telegraph reported.

“It is only a short-term solution at this stage and they discussed a lot of deterrent methods at the meeting but the thing is at the end of the night the biggest majority wanted to see a management program to eliminate some of the (great whites) hanging around,” Munro said. “We are not saying it’s the long-term way about it but in the short-term; sharks aren’t silly, they pick up on their own being killed, they don’t like the smell of their own decaying bodies and they will pick up on that and they will go away.”

Ballina Shire Council mayor David Wright told the publication that businesses near the coast are suffering since tourists and visitors are scared of holidaying at the once famous tourist spot. He also said that the surfers who have been surfing in the same waters for the past 40 years no more feel safe and are pulling out. "If you've seen the Mick Fanning footage, that's happened 10 or 11 times in this area this year," he said.

The call for extermination of the sharks came after several back-to-back attacks in the region, during the same year. The attack on surfer Tadashi Nakahara had been fatal while 11 others faced serious injuries from the attacks. Helicopters spotted sharks lurking at a distance of only 20 metres from unsuspecting surfers as frequently as five times in two weeks.

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