Minns government on notice over shark nets

Animal Justice Party (AJP) representatives have hand-delivered more than 300 individually signed letters from the community to AJP MP Emma Hurst at NSW Parliament, calling for urgent legislative action to ban shark nets in NSW waters.

AJP’s Central Coast group representative Sarah Ryan said the letters had been passed on to NSW Premier Chris Minns.

The group said the letters represented the community’s concerns about the use of shark nets, which it claims are responsible for culling marine life and are ineffective and not fit-for-purpose.

The letters were signed during a weekend of action earlier this month.

Ryan said within just a few hours, 300 locals signed the letters at Terrigal Beach on the Central Coast and Bar Beach in Newcastle.

AJP volunteers set up stations at both beaches, engaging beachgoers in a letter-signing campaign on this pressing local issue.

“The enthusiastic response from the community at our weekend of action clearly shows its stance on these archaic shark nets,” Ryan said.

“Shark nets are nothing more than indiscriminate culling devices.

“They are killing innocent and endangered marine animals whilst providing nothing more than a false sense of security for beachgoers.

“It’s time for the NSW Government to pull the plug on this archaic program, and finally put an end to this 90-year marine cull”.

AJP MP Emma Hurst said following the passing of a recent Motion in Parliament, NSW was closer than ever to putting an end to shark nets.

“Recent research has even shown that these killer nets are not effective at protecting human lives in the water,” Hurst said.

“There are plenty of non-lethal technologies that are far more effective – we must make sure that 2024 is the year we move to those safer and kinder alternatives.”

The NSW Labor Government is being criticised for ignoring community concerns about the threat that shark nets pose to local marine animals.

A 2022 survey conducted by the Department of Primary Industries found that NSW and ACT residents were most satisfied with drone surveillance (75 per cent) as a shark management measure, with satisfaction being lowest for traditional shark nets.

The AJP says that despite the community’s clear preference for modern, non-lethal methods, the NSW Government’s continued deployment of shark nets highlights a clear disconnect between policy decisions and public opinion.

Nets are only 150m wide by 6m deep; sitting in approximately 10m of water, 500m from the shoreline.

The AJP said research demonstrated that these small dimensions on large NSW beaches allowed sharks to swim over, under or around the nets to reach the beach.

In one study carried out by Bond University, 40 per cent of sharks caught were in fact on the ‘beach side’ of the nets, on their way back out to sea.

NSW still deploys shark nets at 51 beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle.

The 2022/23 DPI annual report revealed devastating impacts to marine biodiversity, finding that 228 animals were entangled in NSW nets from September 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023 and notably 89 per cent of these were non-target animals, and 26 per cent of those were endangered or threatened species.