The Wire

As temperatures rise and beach-goers prepare to return to the sand and surf, they can be rest assured shark nets will be firmly in place. But when it comes to saving lives, environmentalists say the nets do more harm than good. Figures from the government reveal around 4000 sea creatures– including stingrays, dolphins, whales and turtles– have been entangled and drowned in shark nets in NSW over the past twenty years. A Department of Primary Industries Report into the Shark Meshing Program found less than 4 per cent of the species trapped by the nets are “target” species.