NSW: It's been 85 years, we're done with shark nets!

Whilst hope had been held that sanity would prevail and the 2022/23 Shark Meshing season would not proceed in New South Wales (NSW), Dugald Saunders, former NSW Minister for Agriculture, lacked the political willpower to make the right decision, despite science and community sentiment strongly supporting the abandonment of the Meshing Program in favour of modern alternatives.

Meanwhile James Griffin, NSW Minister for the Environment stood by silently. It was within Minister Griffin's power to terminate the ineffective shark meshing program, something Envoy Foundation and thousands of Envoy supporters have been asking him to do for months.

Recently, the NSW Government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee was scathing at the lack of action from Minister Griffin (and Minister Saunders) as evidence continues to indicate that the NSW meshing program is not meeting its objectives.

It's time to call this out, and ask the newly formed Labor cabinet not to be the same as their predecessors.

Whilst hope had been held that sanity would prevail and the 2022/23 Shark Meshing season would not proceed in New South Wales (NSW), Dugald Saunders, former NSW Minister for Agriculture, lacked the political willpower to make the right decision, despite science and community sentiment strongly supporting the abandonment of the Meshing Program in favour of modern alternatives.

Meanwhile James Griffin, NSW Minister for the Environment stood by silently. It was within Minister Griffin's power to terminate the ineffective shark meshing program, something Envoy Foundation and thousands of Envoy supporters have been asking him to do for months.

Recently, the NSW Government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee was scathing at the lack of action from Minister Griffin (and Minister Saunders) as evidence continues to indicate that the NSW meshing program is not meeting its objectives.

It's time to call this out, and ask the newly formed Labor cabinet not to be the same as their predecessors.

LNP ignored the community and the scientists, please don't be the same!

212 emails sent

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

Dear Ministers,

In September your predecessors were sent the most recent scientific review of the Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program 2021/22 Annual Performance Report, conducted by the NSW Government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC).

This report comprehensively exposes the NSW shark meshing program for the safety and environmental failure that it is, and has been for decades. Now is the time to follow scientific advice, and end the JMA, effectively ending DPI's ability to operate a compliant shark net program.

It is very clear that the safety and environmental objectives of the JMA and accompanying Management Plan are not being met.

To quote the TSSC “Overall, we are extremely concerned that the current management actions are not meeting either of the [JMA] objectives"

The TSSC was scathing at the lack of action from Minister Saunders and Griffin as trigger points built into the JMA continue to trip, which indicate the program is not meeting its objectives:

“We are similarly extremely concerned that there was no immediate response to the triggering of two species of turtle in this year’s report; 19 green and 16 leatherback turtles. Loggerhead turtles were also caught. Nets should have been pulled immediately from the areas where catches were made to ensure no further turtles were caught, and yet this did not happen. These species cannot sustain such mortality and better management actions are required to eliminate the increased risk of extinction posed by netting”.

A media report from 7 November 2022, notes that using SMART drumlines is far more effective "Since March, three great whites and 16 tiger sharks have been tagged at Bondi alone.". This is further evidence that supports the use of SMART drumlines over shark nets, given that the Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program 2021/22 Annual Performance Report notes that only one target shark was caught in the entire Sydney Central region for the entire 2021/22 meshing season (North Narrabeen, Narrabeen, Dee Why, Curl Curl, Harbord, Queenscliffe, North Steyne, Manly).

The fact that drumlines catch more target sharks and significantly fewer non-target animals than shark nets is not a discovery. Research at least as far back as 2014 and earlier shows that shark nets are not effective at catching target sharks, and therefore shark nets are not effective at reducing shark bites at netted beaches.

The TSSC Review stated “Cardno (2022) reported 29 encounters at netted beaches in NSW out of a total of 35 encounters since 2000. These data suggest that nets do not eliminate the risks of shark interactions. The consistent annual record of non-target species being caught in nets is of significant concern to the NSW TSSC.”

LNP's silence on this issue was deafening. It is within your power to terminate the ineffective JMA, something we and thousands of our supporters have been asking them to do for months, which would force DPI's hand to modernise, or abandon the program.

Your predecessors ignored us every step of the campaign, and even ignored government's own scientific committee. Will you do better than them?

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?