After crossing the lonely 1200km Nullarbor stretch from Ceduna in South Australia, the traveller reaches Norseman. Which way to Perth?

Turn right and 200km later you are in Kalgoorlie, home to the Super Pit, the world's biggest goldmine.

Turn left, and 200km later you have reached Esperance, with the world's whitest and most beautiful beaches.

And sharks. In just the last couple of weeks, sharks have claimed two victims at Esperance.

The headline story was Gary Johnson, presumably eaten by a shark a week ago near Cull Island, about seven kilometres off the Esperance coast. He was an experienced diver, and was wearing one of the WA Labor government's favoured personal shark deterrents.

Johnson's oxygen tank and other materials have been located, but not his body.

It was reported that this was the second fatal attack in the Esperance area after 17-year-old Laeticia Brouwer was taken at Kelp Beds in April 2017. This surfing area is not far from the world-famous Cape Le Grand National Park beaches.

Esperance sand is very white - marred only by seaweed that washes up along all of Australia's southern coastline.

The water is incredibly clear, so clear that one report of Laeticia's attack said that the people on the beach saw the shark in the water.

In 2014, a 23-year-old surfer, Sean Pollard, lost an arm and his other hand in a shark attack at an Esperance beach. He was surfing alone, about 150 metres from the surf break. Calmly the Department of Fisheries spokeswoman Lisa Clack, said two sharks had been caught near where the attack occurred.

"Ms Clack said two baited drum lines were deployed an hour after the attack, and a great white shark between three and 4.5 metres in length was caught about an hour later. She said the department had sought permission from the federal government to kill the shark," the ABC reported at the time. Note "after the attack", and "... sought permission ... to kill."

WA would be the shark attack centre of Australia, yet what I note in reports about sharks there is the reluctance of governments to do anything real about protecting beachgoers.

"Baited drum lines were deployed off a number of Perth and South-West beaches earlier this year (2017) to catch sharks, but plans to extend the trial this summer were abandoned after WA's Environmental Protection Authority advised against it," another ABC report said.

Various governments have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do something. In 2018, the McGowan Labor government relented with a token trial of drum lines.

"The 12-month trial will be rolled out in waters off Gracetown in the state's south west, where two non-fatal attacks took place earlier this year, and the results will be evaluated by WA's chief scientist Peter Klinken," the report said.

But this only followed after the cancellation of the Margaret River Pro Surfing Competition, a major tourist money-spinner for that very tourist-dependent region.

"It's a non-lethal program, it's a catch, tag, relocate and release program," Mr Kelly said. "It's certainly not intended to kill sharks. I don't think the public want us to go down that path."

The news was welcomed by surfers such as Nick Gerring, whose brother was taken by a shark in 2016. Activist groups like Sea Shepherd screamed "individuals should take responsibility for managing their own risk from sharks." They have answers like "better signing"!

Meanwhile, the economy and jobs suffer. "Margaret River surfer Mitch Thorson said he knew of five retailers and cafes closing down on the town's main street because of the dwindling number of visiting surfers. "The shark thing hasn't had an impact on the wine industry so much, but I'll tell you what, there's a heck of a lot less people in the water," he said.

Why are Australians afraid to stand up to environmental activists? Do we not value human life?

Another body was recovered by police last Wednesday from the water at Esperance's Twilight Beach - believed to be that of a 21-year-old who went missing last week. How many more?