Last week a bottlenose dolphin snagged in the shark nets off Bondi,Australia’s most iconic beach,became the latest in a long procession of animal victims to this fear. Jason Iggleden,the man who has captured the daily goings-on of the eastern beaches’ wildlife through the Drone Shark App Instagram page and has worked wonders in rehabilitating beachgoers’ relationship with the presence of sharks,captured the moment andof his dismay.
“It’s terrible. It’s a pointless killing,” he said. “That dolphin could’ve just been happily playing around forever,but the nets have just ended its life for no reason.”
No reason indeed. The Department of Primary Industries itself points out that the nets do not create a total barrier between the open ocean and swimmers. or swim over. The nets are only installed for six months of the year and arguably provide little psychological comfort given they’re invisible to beachgoers.
The nets are an outdated technology first implemented in the 1930s. As by the University of Sydney’s Dr Chris Pepin-Neff – a senior lecturer in public policy who tracks community sentiments about shark bites – a DPI report found that between 1937 and 2008,the majority (63 per cent) of shark bites took place at netted beaches. During the three years the netting program was suspended during World War II,there were no fatal shark bites at NSW beaches.
A growing contingent of scientists,MPs and members of the community argue the nets have little impact on preventing interactions between sharks and swimmers.
What the nets are successful at is killing the marine wildlife that delight residents and draw thousands of tourists to snorkel,scuba dive and whale-watch off our shores. Last year’s data showed 90 per cent of the 228 animals caught in the nets were not the “target” species of shark that pose a threat to humans (white,tiger and bull sharks). Over the past decade,more than 150 critically endangered grey nurse sharks have been entangled. Out of 700 trapped smooth hammerhead sharks – a timid species the DPI doesn’t consider dangerous to humans – only 1 per cent were released alive. Other trapped animals include six young humpbacks,more than 1600 rays and more than 100 turtles. Every dolphin ever trapped in the nets has died,including five this past summer.
The NSW government has admirably invested in one of the most comprehensive shark management systems in the world,including a network of SMART drumlines,shark-detecting listening stations,and drone monitoring at beaches across the coast that act as an alternative to nets. Premier Chris Minns said the government is working towards removal of the nets but stopped short of repealing their use in time for summer. It’s time for politicians finally make the call to ditch the nets and put an end to the waste of resources and animal life they wreak each summer,while doing little to keep beachgoers safe.
In a study of Waverley residents last year,Pepin-Neff asked people if they would blame the government if shark nets were removed from Bondi and there was a fatal shark attack. Seventy per cent said no.
“These are not governable events,” Pepin-Neff. “When a land animal goes into the wild ocean environment,there is no decision a politician can make that will stop a shark from biting you.”
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