{"id":112073,"date":"2025-09-02T01:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112073\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T01:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T01:34:13","slug":"shark-nets-to-be-removed-from-three-sydney-beaches-in-controversial-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112073\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark Nets to be Removed from Three Sydney Beaches in Controversial Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

There have been no fatal attacks in NSW on a netted beach since 1951, though there have been encounters with sharks. Shark fatalities across the whole state total two a year on average, across nearly 900 beaches.<\/p>\n

Macquarie University Professor Culum Brown, a fish and shark scientist, said there was no statistical difference.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A dolphin dies as a result of getting tangled in a shark net.Credit: <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no scientific evidence \u2026 that suggests that you\u2019re any safer swimming at a beach that has a net, versus swimming at a beach that doesn\u2019t have a net,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat\u2019s because deaths by sharks, and even shark bites, are so rare that it\u2019s hard to model.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shark nets are just 150 metres long with gaps above and below them, so sharks can swim around, over and under them. Brown said a large percentage of the sharks caught in the nets were found on the beach side.<\/p>\n

This masthead has previously reported on University of Sydney research that suggests that flailing sea creatures caught in the nets could actually attract sharks<\/a>, making them counterproductive. Brown said this research was credible and many of the pictures showed that the dead animals had chunks bitten out of them.<\/p>\n

Humane World for Animals, a charity that has been campaigning against shark nets, obtained documents under freedom of information laws that show that the government\u2019s own Fisheries Scientific Committee advised the minister before last summer that the netting program should be discontinued. It said there were no differences between netted and non-netted beaches in attacks, while the nets were a \u201ckey threatening process\u201d for endangered species such as grey nurse sharks.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, 223 animals were caught in the nets, the FOI documents show, and more than two out of three were killed. Only 24 animals caught were target species \u2013 four bull sharks, two tiger sharks and 18 great white sharks. Four dolphins were killed, 13 turtles were caught of which seven died, and 11 grey nurse sharks were caught of which four were killed.<\/p>\n

In 2023-24, 29 turtles were caught in the nets. Last year, the shark nets were removed a month earlier because of increased turtle activity in April; inspections of the nets were increased during March; more drone surveillance was used to scout for turtles and there was also a trial of lights to deter turtles on 21 nets in February and March.<\/p>\n

Moriarty said all 51 nets would include turtle lights this year.<\/p>\n

Humane World for Animals marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said it was disappointing the nets were being installed on Monday because it would kill wildlife without making the beaches safer, but he was relieved the trial was going ahead.<\/p>\n

Shekhina Maher, 32, grew up on the northern beaches and now lives in Bronte, where she swims in the ocean nearly every day, even in winter when there are no nets. She sees whales and dolphins but never sharks.<\/p>\n

\"Bronte<\/p>\n

Bronte local Shekhina Maher swims in the ocean every day and says she would not be scared without nets.Credit: Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the shark\u2019s domain \u2013 it\u2019s their kingdom,\u201d Maher said. \u201cIt\u2019s so important to have the cycle of all the animals in the ocean with the apex predators and things like that. I\u2019m all about balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said if the nets made people safer, it was \u201cworth the conversation,\u201d but she was concerned about the damage to marine life.<\/p>\n

Get to the heart of what\u2019s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There have been no fatal attacks in NSW on a netted beach since 1951, though there have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-112073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}