The Australian Greens Party have a plan to phase out the use of shark nets and drum lines at Australia’s beaches and invest $50 million (US$36.7 million) over ten years towards the research and development of non-lethal shark control measures.
In a policy launch at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Thursday, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson called shark nets “weapons of mass destruction”, adding that “they don’t make the ocean safe for swimmers, surfers, divers, and other ocean goers.”
Whish-Wilson, himself a surfer, said he’s been working on this issue in the federal parliament for almost a decade.
“I want to make it really clear that every shark bite in this country, every death, is a tragedy...and this is a very controversial and often divisive issue in Australia, but it shouldn’t be,” he said.
“We can do so much better to balance the risks for protecting marine life and protecting ocean goers, and today the Greens are launching a national policy to do exactly that.”
Since 1937, shark nets have been deployed between Newcastle and Wollongong in New South Wales, with nets currently in use at 51 of the state’s most popular beaches between September and April each year. Shark nets are also used in Queensland.
The nets are 150 metres long, 6 metres deep, have a mesh size of 60 centimetres, and are placed about 500 metres from the shore, 4 metres below the surface.
They don’t provide an enclosed area or barrier between ocean goers and sharks but are rather designed to reduce the likelihood of shark encounters by catching large, potentially dangerous sharks.
Smart drum lines also function to catch sharks rather than deter them, through a baited hook attached to two buoys, an anchor, and a GPS communications unit. When the shark takes the bait, the pressure on the line activates a signal, which alerts a boat crew and scientists that an animal is on the line.
The team responds immediately—within 30 minutes—to tag and release the shark or other marine animal. This method leads to fewer deaths of non-target species.
Whish-Wilson said that we wouldn’t use substandard 50-year-old technology in our workplaces, homes, hospitals, or schools to keep us safe, so it’s not appropriate for our beaches either.
As well as phasing out the nets and drumlines and investing $50 million into the implementation of non-lethal methods, the Greens also intend to establish a National Sharks Working Group, along with a publically accessible national database of interactions with shark control measures.
Whish-Wilson also noted that what’s missing from the conversation on the nets is debate, saying that the Federal Government has been “missing in action” on this issue.
In 2017, Whish-Wilson initiated a parliamentary inquiry into the “efficacy and regulation of shark mitigation and deterrent measures,” with submissions posted from numerous organisations including Surf Life Saving Australia, Sydney Coastal Councils Group, and Australian Aerial Patrol.
However, he said he heard nothing from the federal government.
“Time for this government to step up, and while they are at it- reply to the groundbreaking 2017 Senate into this matter-that they refuse to respond to! Why??” Whish-Wilson said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Minister for Environment for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Although Whish-Wilson didn’t offer any examples of the new technologies that could replace shark nets and drum lines, some solutions were presented in the submissions to his inquiry.
It’s a lightweight device that contains two electrodes that emit an electrical field, deterring sharks by causing muscle spasms in their snout when they come within two metres of the device.
“The results showed that nine out of ten times the shark shield was effective at deterring white sharks,” said Director of the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute, Shaun Collin.
Meanwhile, a Surf Life Saving Australia spokesperson told the Epoch Times that state Surf Life Saving bodies work with state governments to assist in shark mitigation through offshore patrols by inflatable rescue boats (IRBs) and rescue watercraft (RWC) at patrolled beaches, as well unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are also used in remote areas.
“SLSA promotes the use of UAV’s which are in surf clubs/ surf lifesaving services around the country and are easy, efficient and safe way to detect marine fauna presence in the ocean that doesn’t harm marine fauna and also keeps surf lifesavers at a safe distance,” she said.
However, she added that the organisation couldn’t comment on the efficacy of shark nets, as they don’t have access to data on how many shark-related deaths or incidents may have been prevented.
The Greens policy launch comes just weeks after a man was fatally attacked at Buchan Point, near Little Bay Beach in Sydney, the first shark fatality in Sydney in almost 60 years, and at a location where no nets or drum lines were in place.
