Recent Sightings Spur Shark Summit
January 13, 2006
Release from: Mark Scala
Daily Telegraph (Australia)

A shark summit will be held to review beach safety, the NSW Government revealed yesterday.

But Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said the shark netting program would not be the summit's main issue.

"I see the focus of the summit to be issues such as shark migration patterns, breeding patterns and social behaviour," he said.

"In the meantime, the Government remains committed to its successful beach netting program."

The Sydney summit, drawing together surf lifesavers and national and international shark and fisheries experts, is expected to take place in autumn.

It follows reports in The Daily Telegraph highlighting the need for aerial patrols and co-ordinated research into shark behaviour.

Shark sightings by the McDonald's Aerial Patrol have increased along the South Coast, general manager Harry Mitchell said, with schools of more than 20 hammerheads sighted in the past year.

Data obtained from the patrol reveals more than 40 sightings attended from November last year to now and between January and April 2005, the peak shark season, with tiger, bronze whaler and white pointers reported.

The most sightings reported to the patrol flying along the South Coast occurred off Port Kembla, Windang and Wollongong.

Last year, 132 sharks were caught in nets off Sydney beaches, down from 153 sharks caught in 2000 but above the annual average of 100 in the past five years.

Professor Iain Suthers from the University of NSW criticised the meshing program, in which most sharks caught were towed out to sea and dumped, without adequate research.

He said aerial patrols should be used to record shark movements, species and water conditions, so swimmers could learn to avoid the predator at high risk times.

"A shark net catches a shark in a 48-hour period, and we have no idea of the conditions which brought it there," he said.

"At least the Japanese whalers take measurements, we do nothing like that.

"From a biological perspective it's a travesty, we're killing sharks that pose no real threat to humans."

The marine researcher said it could be assumed that sharks caught in the nets, which have been in place since 1937, and by fishermen had become smaller over time, but not enough research had been undertaken.