These views are representative of the author and not Tracks. The purpose of this article is to present one side of the current debate on how to prevent the increasing number of shark attacks that have taken place during 2025 on Australia’s East Coast.
To read the other side of the debate – click here.
By Lawrence Chlebeck
Marine Ecologist, Marine Program Manager at Humane World for Animals Australia
In the 1930s, France spent an unimaginable amount of time and money building a vast expanse of concrete called the Maginot Line—in essence, it was a wall designed to keep advancing German forces out of the country. After a full decade of construction work, the French stood back to gaze upon the fruits of their labour, only to see the German army literally just walk around one end of their wall and invade the country anyway. It has since become an historical emblem of the failure of efforts that provide only a false sense of security.
Around the same time (in 1937), the NSW Government was constructing similarly useless measures: a series of small gill nets—about 150 meters long and six meters high—set a few hundred meters offshore, known as the NSW Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program. Yes, you read that correctly: the spindly nets that cover a tiny portion of each beach, bobbing around in the ocean for the last 88 years, are supposedly the things keeping us safe from sharks.
To put it into perspective: this is like unfurling a ping pong net on a footy pitch and thinking that it’s going to stop a team of players running from one end to the other. Just like the Maginot Line, history (and nine decades worth of catch data) have made it very clear to us that these nets have been nothing short of a colossal failure. And to add insult to injury: they are exacting a terrible toll on our local marine species like dolphins, rays and turtles, in the process.
It took the French about a week to realise that their fortifications were useless. It’s been just shy of a century since the government installed its ping pong nets in the ocean and we’re still yet to see them removed. It’s high time we embraced shark protection measures that work. And there’s plenty of proven alternatives that are already reducing the risk today. With increased investment, they could be doing much more for surfer safety. Interaction data shows that since 2000, there has been no difference in the risk of shark bite between netted and non-netted beaches(1) In New South Wales alone, 74 shark bites have occurred in the vicinity of beaches with nets in place (2)This has even been corroborated in a legal setting when a Queensland tribunal concluded that the scientific evidence against lethal shark control programs being effective for public safety is “overwhelming”(3).
While shark nets fail to protect people, they succeed in killing marine wildlife at an alarming rate. Also since 2000, 92% of animals caught in NSW shark nets were not target shark species. This includes dolphins, turtles, rays, penguins, and Critically Endangered grey nurse sharks. During the 2023/24 season, one threatened turtle was caught every seven days. In total, NSW shark nets have killed over 3,000 non-target sharks, 247 turtles, and 100 dolphins since 2000 (4).
But the detrimental effects of shark nets are not limited to bycatch. It doesn’t take much to realise that floundering, dead and dying animals trapped in nets can attract larger sharks closer to shore. So, nets are not only ineffective, they are also very likely to be actively detrimental to public safety.
The good news is that we already have better options. Over the past decade, governments have invested in modern, non-lethal technologies that actually reduce risk. These include drone surveillance, shark listening stations and SMART drumlines. Western Australia has even introduced a subsidy program for scientifically and independently tested effective (5) personal shark deterrent devices.
These measures are not hypothetical—they are already in place alongside nets and have proven far more effective at protecting people without harming marine life. For example, in the 2023/4 summer season, when the shark nets caught just 15 target sharks, drones detected 362 sharks, resulting in 147 counter measures to keep people safe. It would be a far more effective use of taxpayer money to reallocate the $2.6m per annum that is spent on shark nets to procure more drones to allow for comprehensive surveillance along the entire NSW coastline.
The case against shark nets is clear: they do not prevent shark bites, they kill indiscriminately and they threaten species with extinction. Meanwhile, modern technologies offer real solutions that safeguard both humans and wildlife. Continuing to use shark nets is not just outdated—it’s irresponsible.
Imperative to improving surfer safety in the water is listening to science, not sensationalism. To do otherwise is dangerous and distracting from the serious conversation that needs to be had about shark bite risk management. Just as the Maginot Line stands as a monument to the disastrous effects of dogmatism, NSW shark nets continue to offer little more than an illusion of safety. Both relied on outdated thinking and failed to adapt to reality.
It’s time we learn from past mistakes and invest in solutions that genuinely protect surfers as well as marine life.
References:
- Charlie Huveneers, Craig Blount, Corey J.A. Bradshaw, Paul A. Butcher, Marcus P. Lincoln Smith, William G.
Macbeth, Daryl P. McPhee, Natalie Moltschaniwskyj, Victor M. Peddemors, Marcel Green. Shifts in the
incidence of shark bites and efficacy of beach-focussed mitigation in Australia, Marine Pollution Bulletin,
Volume 198, 2024, 115855, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115855. - Australian Shark Incident Database, Taronga Conservation Society Australia. 2025
- Humane Society International (Australia) Inc and Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (Qld) [2019] AATA 617 (2 April 2019) para 94
- Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program Annual Performance Reports. Accessible:
https://www.sharksmart.nsw.gov.au/shark-nets - Huveneers C, Whitmarsh S, Thiele M, Meyer L, Fox A, Bradshaw CJA. Effectiveness of five personal shark-bite
deterrents for surfers. PeerJ. 2018 Aug 31;6:e5554. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5554. PMID: 30186701; PMCID:
PMC6120439.
