Skip to content
Animal Animal WelfareRights, Government NSW

New FOI data for NSW confirms scientists’ condemnation of shark nets

Humane World for Animals 3 mins read

SYDNEY (20 MAY 2024)―Figures just released under Freedom of Information have again shown the overwhelming failure of the NSW’s shark nets with almost 90% of the animals caught during the 2024/25 season being non-target species.  

Of the 223 animals caught in this antiquated and deadly program, only 24 (or 11%) were targeted sharks (tiger, bull, white), with 199 (89%) being non-target bycatch, including dolphins, threatened leatherback turtles and critically endangered grey nurse sharks.   

Tragically, 149 (67%) of all the animals caught died.  

Lawrence Chlebeck, marine biologist with Humane World for Animals, said: ‘Year after year we see this depressingly familiar figure: about 90% of the animals caught in the shark nets have nothing to do with the purpose of the nets. That’s not only an animal welfare tragedy, but it’s also a serious conservation concern.’  

The 2024/25 catch data follows a damning criticism of the shark nets by the NSW Government’s own Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The committee’s March report states: ‘The overall objective of the shark mesh program is to reduce human fatalities from key target sharks on beaches. At present there is no evidence that such actions do decrease fatalities.’  

While referencing shark bite risk, the committee said it ‘could not detect differences between netted and non-netted beaches.’  

The continuation of the shark netting program leaves many scientists, conservationists and beachgoers baffled.  

Chlebeck said: ‘It’s hard to see how the Government can carry on with the shark nets when their own scientific advisors have shredded the program’s credibility. The TSSC report indicating no human safety benefit along with these new species catch figures must be the final nail in the coffin for the nets.

‘Shark nets do not keep people safe. We have known this for a long time. This program is ineffective, woefully outdated and it indiscriminately kills marine wildlife, including threatened species. At this point, there is every reason for the Minns Government to remove the nets permanently,’ he said.  

Shark nets are located off 51 NSW beaches at Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. They are 150m long, six metres high and are anchored in approximately 12m of water. Sharks swim over, under and around the nets with almost half (40%) of the sharks who are entangled, caught on the beach side of the net, indicating they were leaving the area when trapped.1 

Chlebeck said: ‘New technology is already in place at our beaches—drone surveillance, shark listening stations which detect tagged sharks and non-lethal SMART drumlines—it’s not like we’re just advocating for the removal of nets.

‘The alternatives have been in place for many years and have proven to be much better at detecting sharks and keeping people safe. It’s a no-brainer. Our message to the Government is accept the science that consistently shows that nets don’t work and listen to the community and beachgoers who don’t want them. The only thing that should die is the shark net program.’

 

  1. Likely effectiveness of netting or other capture programs as a shark hazard mitigation strategy in Western Australia (2012) D. McPhee 

Key Facts:

2024/25 season  

  • 223 animals caught, 149 (67%) killed 
  • Only 24 target sharks were caught (four bull, two tiger, 18 white), 11% of total catch  
  • 89% of catch was non-target species  
  • Only four target sharks were caught in nets on Sydney beaches   
  • Four dolphins were killed (Wattamolla 22/10 and 28/11, MacMasters 18/10, Redhead 11/2)   
  • 13 turtles caught (seven green, three leatherback, two loggerhead, one olive ridley) , seven were killed. These are all threatened species.  
  • 11 grey nurse sharks caught, four were killed. The east coast grey nurse shark population is Critically Endangered.  

By comparison:  Alternative measures (listening stations, drones, SMART drumlines) had the following results for the 2023/24 season (2024/25 figures yet to be released):  

  • Listening stations detected 473 target sharks  
  • Drones spotted 362 sharks  
  • SMART drumlines caught 413 target sharks who were relocated out to sea   

Contact details:

Matthew Smeal 
E: [email protected] 
M: 0434483493 

Media

More from this category

  • Agriculture Farming Rural, Animal Animal WelfareRights
  • 17/06/2025
  • 16:20
Australian Alliance for Animals

Cage egg phase out in spotlight with launch of world’s biggest global investigation

The Australian Alliance for Animals has today joined members of the global Open Wing Alliance in calling for faster action on ending battery cages as the world’s biggest investigation into the cruelty of cage egg production is released. Undercover footage obtained from over 37 countries – including Australia – lays bare the ongoing, systemic suffering of millions of hens confined to battery cages, despite growing global momentum to go cage-free. The distressing footage shows the miserable lives of egg-laying hens trapped in small, barren wire cages. Deprived of space and stimulation, hens are unable to stretch their wings, perch, dust…

  • Animal Animal WelfareRights
  • 16/06/2025
  • 05:30
Coalition Against Duck Shooting

Taxpayer millions wasted on a dying duck shooting season

The final long weekend of Victoria's 2025 recreational duck shooting season ended last Monday,June 9, as it started, extremely quiet with very few shooters. It highlighted the shockingmisuse of public funds which are used to prop up recreational duck shooting seasons for duckshooters who make up just 0.2 percent of Victoria’s population, the Coalition Against DuckShooting Campaign Director, Laurie Levy, said today. "With Victoria’s crippling debt of about $170 billion, PremierJacinta Allan should have the vision to immediately replace duck shooting, which costs Victorian taxpayers around $11 million annually, with a First Nations nature-based, cultural wetlands tourism industry, which would…

  • Animal Animal WelfareRights, Environment
  • 16/06/2025
  • 05:00
Australian Koala Foundation

New Environment Minister put on notice in front of 1,500 of the world’s best conservation biologists: “Do you have ‘Watt’ it takes to introduce a Koala Protection Act, or will you be responsible for the species’ demise?”

Chair of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), Deborah Tabart OAM will today address the 32ndInternational Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2025)in Brisbane, calling on…

  • Contains:

Media Outreach made fast, easy, simple.

Feature your press release on Medianet's News Hub every time you distribute with Medianet. Pay per release or save with a subscription.