More than 130 marine animals, including 10 that are endangered, have been found dead in New South Wales shark nets this season, new data has found.
The nets have caught 208 non-shark animals from September 1 to April 11, according to data obtained by Humane Society International from the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Of those caught, 134 were found dead, including five critically endangered grey nurse sharks, four endangered leatherback turtles and one endangered loggerhead turtle.
The data also found, 93 per cent of marine life captured in the nets were non-target animals and only 36 per cent were released alive.
“It’s why NSW beachside communities are fed up with these wildlife death traps,” marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said.
NSW’s Shark Meshing Program sees shark nets installed on beaches from Newcastle to Wollongong every September through April and will be removed today for the end of the season.
Humane Society, however, said every netted beach was already fitted with alternative shark safety measures like SMART drumlines, alert systems and drone surveillance, which have been active for about a decade.
And four in five Australians – and 83 per cent of New South Wales residents – recognise they are entering shark habitat when they swim in the ocean and assume responsibility, an independent poll commissioned by the group found.
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Campaigners are consequently calling on Premier Chris Minns to stop deploying the “outdated technology”.
“NSW has the best-funded and most advanced shark risk strategy in the world, so it’s time the Minns Government retired the ineffective and destructive nets,” Chlebeck said.
“Public sentiment and the science are in alignment—let’s keep the nets out and the drones up,” Australian Marine Conservation Society shark scientist Leonardo Guida said.
