Endangered Shark Drowns in Net

Monday March 23, 2009

A great 2.7m white shark drowned in a net off Nobbys Beach in Newcastle, prompting authorities to question whether using nets are outdated.

White pointer sharks are known as a vulnerable species and are protected in Australian waters and the recent drowning has made politicians question the relevance of using nets to protect people from sharks.

"Netting has been proven to be pretty ineffectual, from my perspective," Greens MP Cohen told the Newcastle Herald who believes that nets are a 1930s method.

The nets do not extend across the whole length of a beach and marine life can swim around them.

"About 30 per cent of sharks caught up in the nets are on the inside coming out and the vast majority of creatures caught in the nets are harmless to humans."

Marine experts said seals, dugongs, dolphins, whales, turtles and harmless sharks had been killed in the nets.

Nobbys Beach nippers' co-ordinator Michael Mulligan said he was "not a strong believer" in the nets.

"They do help prevent sharks, but they don't run all the way up and down the coast," Mr Mulligan told the Newcastle Herald.

"The sharks are either on one side of the net or the other.

"If they are caught on the shore side, how do they get back out and do they look for a food source on the shore side?"

Experts say that sharks need oxygen to survive, but the department report said the nets were fitted with sonar devices and alarms to deter air-breathing creatures such as dolphins and whales.

Sydney Aquarium marine expert Amy Wilkes said that the sonar devices and alarms "work for some marine life, but not others".

A Department of Primary Industries report states that: "Since the NSW shark meshing program was put in place in 1937, there has only been one fatal attack on a meshed beach," the report said.

"Before the program was in place, there was an average of one fatal shark attack every year in NSW waters."

Back to News Index | Back to Home