SHARK nets are a useless security blanket from a bygone era that remain ineffective and cause more harm than good – but they are probably here to stay.
The future of the controversial shark meshing program may be in the hands of the Primary Industries Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson, after an independent committee charged with reviewing the program urged authorities to scientifically assess whether the program needed to be modified or even discontinued.
The Fisheries Scientific Committee even stipulated in a letter to the minister more than a year ago that claims within the reports on the meshing program that it was effective in providing a safer environment for swimmers, remained unsubstantiated.
This was despite constant criticism about a lack of scientific evidence to support the shark netting dating back to 2009.
The review, which would be part of the annual performance report on the program, was supposed to be released last year but remains in the minister’s office waiting to be rubber-stamped.
But despite widespread criticism shark nets did not work, were costly and were causing damage to non-threatening marine animals, experts agreed it would take a brave politician to sign off on removing them.
‘‘I think we have become stuck with a meshing program that was probably a legacy of outdated public opinion about sharks,’’ marine biologist Daniel Bucher, from Southern Cross University, said.
‘‘I think that public opinion has shifted a lot to a more conservation-type approach where most people don’t want sharks to be killed for no apparent cause.
‘‘But I understand the reasons for keeping them — I think if I was in charge of the meshing program I would have to be pretty brave to pull them out. You wouldn’t want to pull them out and then have someone pulled out of the water after an attack.’’
A Department of Primary Industries spokeswoman would not reveal the price of keeping the shark meshing of 49 of the state’s beaches, including 10 along the Hunter coastline, but reiterated that there had not been a fatality at a meshed beach since 1951 at Merewether – the only death where nets were present.
The department also repeated the claims that the nets were not created to be a total barrier but were ‘‘designed to deter sharks from establishing territories’’.
But shark expert Dave Powter said there was no evidence to compare it to many other beaches along the coastline which were not netted and also did not have recorded attacks.
‘‘It is just as likely that vigilance rather than the nets are what is protecting people, I think the nets are nothing more than a security blanket,’’ Mr Powter said.
THE kilometre of golden sand between Bar Beach and Merewether Beach boasts three shark nets which lie on the ocean floor and stretch up just over halfway to the surface.
They lie along about 450metres of the stretch, are more than 500metres out to sea and in place between September and April.
And in the last records made public – the summer of 2012-13 – they caught a tally of two southern eagle rays and a humpback whale.
But there has also not been a fatality at any of the 39 beaches along the NSW coast which are netted – including 10 Hunter beaches – since a man was taken off Merewether Beach in 1951.
But marine biologist Daniel Bucher believes the lifeguards and patrols had more to do with keeping the swimmers and surfers safe than the nets did.
Like earlier this month when a massive great white shark was seen only metres off Merewether Beach and remained inside the nets from Stockton to Redhead for nine days.
‘‘The safest beach is the one where no one is in the water when sharks are nearby, and nets are not going to tell you when sharks are nearby,’’ Mr Bucher said.
‘‘Improved patrolling is going to tell you that.’’
Mr Bucher said more funding of patrols, including the possible use of drones, would be a safer and cheaper options than the nets.
Shark expert Dave Powter said the nets were introduced at a time when many pollutants, including waste from sewage and abattoirs, were pumped directly into the ocean near beaches.
Fewer sharks, especially large sharks, were roaming close to the coast.