Shark nets and drumlines are once again under scrutiny as the NSW Government considers installing the nets across five Illawarra beaches for the summer season.
Since 2012, less than 5 per cent of the marine life caught by the nets are considered ‘target sharks’, leaving the other 95 per cent of species captured being turtles, whales, dolphins and non-target sharks.
Green’s Lord Mayor cadidate Jess Whittaker has been fighting against the placement of shark nets and drumlines in the Illawarra.
“Shark nets are designed to kill wildlife,” Mrs Whittaker said.
“It’s a marine life cull basically, that works by reducing numbers of marine life in the ocean.”
Between September 2023 and April 2024, more than 134 ‘non-target’ marine life were found dead in NSW shark nets, five of which were the critically endangered grey nurse shark. There is estimated to be only about 2000 grey nurse sharks left in Australian oceans.
Conservation groups across NSW are calling for more action from the government, who are spending millions just to keep the 85-year-old program going.
“At the moment, the state government is spending $86 million over 5 years on shark nets and drumlines,” Mrs Whittaker said
”That money could be diverted to helping councils to patrol more beaches.”
The government has been slowly moving away from shark nets, likely due to political pressure following the removal of nets and drumlines in Western Australia.
The introduction of ‘Surf-Life Saving Drones’ have been used over the past 10 years to monitor NSW beaches biggest killer, drowning.
Council members and local government believe that these drones could be used to monitor both swimmers’ safety and shark activity, saving the government millions in shark net costs.
“Funding lifeguards is the best thing you can do for shark mitigation.” Mrs Whittaker said.
Mrs Whittaker believes cutting costs of shark nets and diverting the funds to surf-life saving would allow for more lifeguards to be spread across NSW.