Nets off NSW beaches trap 16 times more non-target species than the three dangerous sharks they are aimed at, with little measurable benefit in terms of improving human safety
The paper found despite a rapid increase in people living near the coast - and an estimated faster rise in beach visits - the chances of a shark bite remained minimal even at beaches without nets.
"We fear the very dramatic thing," Dr Gibbs said, adding that drowning deaths in coastal waters, which stir less attention, were about 100 times more likely than from shark bites. Of 395 marine animals caught in nets in 2018-19, 372 - or about 94 per cent - were so-called bycatch. Some of the animals caught were endangered, such as grey nurse sharks.Credit:In 2015-16, for instance, 19 such sharks were caught, five of them dead and 14 released alive but "their long-term survival unknown", the paper noted. In 2017-18, 20 grey nurse sharks were caught, with 10 found dead.
The researchers argue the impact of beach patrols and the rapid response from emergency crews to shark bites had been largely overlooked.
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