NO: More Than 300 Sea Critters Have Been Tangled Up In NSW Shark Nets Over The Last Year

Shark nets in New South Wales have caught 325 non-target animals in the last year, including a load of critters from endangered species. Haven’t the turtles been through enough? The state’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI) released its yearly report about shark nets, which are put in place eight months of the year. They stretch along the NSW coast from Wollongong to Newcastle. According to the report, 376 animals were caught by shark nets — but a massive 325 of those animals weren’t the targeted sharks (which include bull sharks, white sharks and tiger sharks). Now I’m no mathematician, but those do not seem like great stats. The worst impacted animals were non-targeted shark species, including greynurse, hammerhead, whaler and mako sharks. There were also 130 rays and 40 turtles caught, as well as a humpback whale. In news that has left 12-year-old me genuinely distraught, a dolphin also died after it was caught in the net. In fact, 62 per cent of the animals that interacted with the nets died. And of the 376 animal interactions with shark nets, 86 were threatened or protected species. There’s been persistent calls from animal rights activists for governments across Aus to invest in alternatives to shark nets. In early July, three whales were caught by shark nets in Queensland