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The Greens have called on Environment Minister Murray Watt to change environmental legislation allowing state-controlled shark culling programs following the death of a whale off the coast of New South Wales.
The young humpback whale was found dead in a shark net off the coast of the Illawarra region south of Sydney.
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The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development confirmed the whale was caught in the Coledale Beach shark net, one of 51 shark nets set up by the state government each year from Wollongong to Newcastle.
Mesh nets have been used since the 1930s but are not designed to provide a barrier to sharks. They initially intended to gradually reduce the population by killing.
These are controversial because they kill large numbers of marine life every year, including dolphins, whales, turtles and critically endangered species such as the gray nurse shark.
Marine Rescue NSW volunteers are working to free the whale.Credit: Khynan Gardner – ORRCA
This year the NSW government was planning to trial netting three beaches in the Waverley, Northern Beaches and Central Coast council areas.
After the tragic death of Mercury Psillakis from a shark bite at Dee Why in September, Prime Minister Chris Minns canceled the hearing. Psillakis was surfing on a netted beach; It was south of the lagoon separating Dee Why from Long Reef and the nets had been set a few days earlier on 1 September.
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Peter Whish-Wilson, the Greens’ healthy oceans spokesman, also pointed out the following in his statement on Wednesday: Dozens of sharks spotted in shallow waters Inside shark nets and drum lines at Snapper Rocks in Queensland, one of Australia’s most popular surfing beaches.
“Do governments need more evidence that shark nets don’t work and may even attract sharks to beaches where they can feed on sea creatures caught in these barbaric walls of death?” Whish-Wilson asked. he said.
“Federal law allows the state-sanctioned animal cruelty we see on our Queensland and NSW coastlines through a dangerous and outdated Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) exemption.”
The government plans to amend the law this week.
