please read shark nets

Most people think of the shark nets as fences, physical barriers. They are NOT barriers. They are fishing nets, set to catch and kill sharks. Shark populations are being intentionally lowered because "fewer sharks" means "fewer shark attacks". Imagine you were swimming at a beach that has TEN sharks living there. Pretty scary huh! Now imagine you were swimming at a beach that only had ONE shark living there. Feel a whole lot safer? Shark nets are set to kill sharks to reduce the number of sharks living in that area. By reducing the number of sharks, they are reducing the chance of shark attack.

There are many different kinds of sharks and not all sharks are dangerous to us. The Sharks Board explains that only three kinds of sharks are a threat to people and tourism: Great White, Zambezi and Tiger sharks. These three species are the TARGET of shark nets, the ones the nets are set to catch.

On average each year (1978-1993), the shark nets killed 131 of the three dangerous kinds of sharks. And bathers were 100% safe and no-one has been attacked by a shark at a netted beach. But, in addition to the three target species, each year another 1172 non-target (harmless) sharks were also killed as well as 86 dolphins per year, 49 turtles and 117 rays. (all per year. These figures come from literature published by Sharks Board scientists: Davis, B., G. Cliff and S. F. J. Dudley. 1995. The Natal Sharks Board. Pages 209-213 in: Oceans of life off southern Africa (2nd edition). A. I. L. Payne and R. J. M. Crawford, eds. Vlaeberg Publishers, Halfway House.)

I am glad we are able to swim safely. People should be able to enjoy swimming in the sea safely. But in this modern world can't we think of a better way to protect swimmers. We can't just 'unintentionally' kill 1424 large marine animals every year because we want to kill 131 dangerous sharks. There must be other ways to protect bathers – we could make something simple like fences or we could use more complicated technology. Sharks have a sixth sense – they can detect electric currents.