Shark nets kill a rare and gentle visitor - 25 November 2009

A dugong was found dead having drowned in the shark nets at Coogee beach today; another casualty of the Government’s beach meshing scheme. Dugongs are on the NSW Department of Environment’s endangered list. The Threatened Species Conservation Act defines 'endangered' as “likely to become extinct or in immediate danger of extinction”. The Department lists shark nets as a Key Threatening Process to the survival of dugongs.

“The announcement of a rare visit by a dugong to Sydney’s waters should be a happy occasion,” says Ian Cohen, Greens MLC. “Dugongs were once thought by sailors to be mermaids. These gentle herbivorous giants are on the brink of extinction and it is heartbreaking to think this one ventured too close to foolish human activity and died.

“ Why are we persisting in netting our beaches when the nets are doing more harm than good and failing to provide adequate protection for swimmers? There were two – (non-fatal) –shark attacks on NSW beaches last year, both on meshed beaches – hardly a good advertisement for their usefulness.

“The Department of Primary Industry’s report into the NSW Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program released earlier this year confirmed the inefficacy of the nets.
The report stated that in the period 1974 - 2009 there were 12 attacks across 51 meshed beaches and 45 attacks on the 650 non-meshed beaches.

“Shark nets killed 1,485 marine animals between 1995 and 2004. According to the Government’s own Scientific Committee Report in 2003 at least six categories of vulnerable marine species were being caught in the shark nets each year.

“The NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee, in recommending that the NSW Shark Meshing Program be listed as a Key Threatening Process, notes that 40% of shark entanglement occurring on the beach side of the nets because sharks are able to swim over and around the nets.”

“The shark meshing program is about creating a perception of public safety. You only have to look at the pictures and the real figures to see that it’s unscientific, a waste of money and is killing endangered animals. “