The natural territory of a shark is the ocean and while it is rare, there are shark attacks on humans. How we manage the human-shark interaction has changed over time from hunting down any shark we can find to netting beaches, SMART (Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time) drumlines, tag and release and drone surveillance and warning systems. The annual survey of ‘local sentiments about the current approach’ is open until June 16 so that you can now have your say on the range of shark mitigation measures currently in place along the NSW coast.
‘The NSW Government has committed more than $85 million to continue its Shark Management Program until 2026 and we want to engage the community to strike the right balance, to protect people with minimal harm to wildlife,’ said Member for Tweed, Geoff Provest.
In 2021 to 2022, the NSW Government committed $21.4 million to roll out successfully trialled technologies along the NSW coastline.
These technologies include drone surveillance, SMART drumlines and shark listening stations which detect and track tagged animals while issuing alerts to the public.
The Government also announced a boost of $4.4 million in the same period, for additional mitigation methods, as well as ongoing funding to continue the overarching program.
Netting problems
Traditional approaches like netting have seen significant protest from local Northern Rivers communities as they come with significant problems, particularly in relation to the capture of turtles, whales, and other unintended by-catch.
In Queensland where there is still significant use of netting ‘Since 2011, at least 49 whales have been caught in these shark nets and on drumlines,’ said Sea Shepherd Australia’s Shark Campaigner Jonathan Clark in August 2021.
Campaigners have recommended the removal of dangerous shark nets during the whale migration season.
Not just a killing machine
Research into the feeding habits of sharks over recent years has revealed that sharks are not the undiscerning killing machines they are often promoted as. A report by Wendy Zukerman on the podcast Science Vs in 2020 took a look at sharks and their interactions with humans and highlighted that sharks are discerning hunters.
‘Scientists in Australia and South Africa have observed great white sharks and bull sharks swimming near hundreds of people and they just don’t go after them,’ says Ms Zukerman.
This is supported by shark scientist Taylor Chapple who talked about his experience of tagging great whites near an island called Año Nuevo in California.
‘About half a mile from where I work is a surf spot. So I’ll have a day where there will be 6, 7, 8 up to 15 sharks swimming around my boat at one time and I can see a half mile away the guys in the line up surfing,’ said Mr Chapple.
‘And no one has ever been attacked at that spot. So, if those sharks wanted to eat us there would be very few surfers left in the water.’
‘Most of the time… sharks don’t go around chomping everything they see at every opportunity,’ explained Ms Zukerma.
‘They’re making some sort of calculation about what’s worth the effort… and it seems that in the vast, vast, vast majority of cases… humans – you and me – aren’t worth it for them.’
The survey is available on the NSW Shark Management Program: www.sharksmart.nsw.gov.au and takes no more than ten minutes to complete.
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