Why Sydney’s shark nets have been removed a month early

Those who brave Sydney’s beaches this wet weekend will do so in the absence of shark nets, which were removed a month early to avoid potentially rough weather. The nets, installed each year at the start of summer at 51 beaches from Newcastle to Wollongong, are being removed by the end of March following increased lobbying from conservationists to end the program. A contracted shark netting boat off Warriewood Beach in the northern beaches.

Credit: Nick Moir Officials began removing the nets during the week due to the risk posed by dangerous weather to boat crews tending the nets. Conservationists argue that the nets do not protect swimmers because they cover only tiny sections of the beach and were originally designed to catch and kill sharks rather than prevent them from going near swimmers at the shoreline. Though a growing number of swimmers and councils have objected to the nets, state politicians have so far proved reluctant to end the program.



“Public safety at beaches is the government’s number one priority,” said a spokesperson for NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty, who is responsible for the program. “The government last July announced we were responding to the number of turtles being caught in nets in April arising from changing ocean patterns. “The NSW government announced last year it was continuing its engagement with local councils and stakeholders such as NSW [Surf Life Saving] and Surf NSW and would examine findings from the 2024-25 shark management program trials before announcing its 2025-26 shark management program.

” There were 3825 animals caught in mesh nets across Greater Sydney from 2014-15 to 2023-24, department figures show. Of those, only 315 were target sharks and 3510 were non-target animals. Less than half survived.

Duncan Heuer, who is part of a campaign to educate about the ineffectiveness of shark nets and the high bycatch, has republished news reports from the 1930s showing the nets were intended to reduce the numbers of sharks every season and “rid the ocean of sharks” over time. Shark netting is set to finish early this year. Credit: Nick Moir The government also has more modern technology to detect and deter sharks than mesh nets, spending $21.

4 million on a program that extends from Tweed to Bega. SMART drumlines are used up and down the coast – there are 305 deployed daily, depending on the weather, in 19 local government areas. “SMART” stands for “Shark Management Alert in Real Time” and the idea is that the sharks are intercepted, relocated by a boat and then tagged and released.

There are also tagged shark listening stations – between one and four in every NSW coastal council – and drones operated by Surf Life Saving NSW up and down the coast. Many coastal councils, including Waverley, Northern Beaches, Central Coast and Wollongong, oppose shark net use. In 2023, Sutherland Shire Council overwhelmingly voted against removing mesh nets, but in December 2024 it voted unanimously to recommend their removal.

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