Fatal attack revives debate over controversial shark nets in Australia

The ocean has always been a large part of the Life of Gain Butler.

Server has been for 50 years, and at that time he says he rarely thinking about sharks.

“You realize that you are entering into her environment, so you are cautious,” the 61 -year -old told the BBC.

But Mr. Bater’s confidence in the water was shattered last month.

He went to ride the waves with his friends on Saturday morning in Long Reef on the northern shores of Sydney. A few minutes after Mr. Batrir came out of the water, his colleague Server Mercury Vesilakis was killed by a large white penny.

“We have been shook a little,” Battler admits. “Mercury and his twin brother Mike were known in the local community:” I always said G’day. “

The killing revived a long discussion and a sensation on how to maintain the safety of the beach pioneers in the waters of Australia, and the spotlight on New South Wales (NSW) was begged.

The authorities here have a set of measures in their arsenal to alleviate the risk of shark attacks, but the most famous – the most controversial – are a window that is put out every summer in many beaches.

Conservation conservation specialists say that the window causes more harm – do little to prevent shark that reaches popular rest periods and causes great harm to other marine life – but many of the fearful beach pioneers remain associated with them as another layer of protection.

Australia is home to some of the best beaches of the world. More than 80 % of the population lives on the coast, so swimming or waves in the early morning are a standard for thousands of people every day.

But there are people who feel that daily rituals are increasingly fraught with risk.

Mirek Craney is one of them.

66 -year -old Sydneysider recalls that he swings in the massive great white shark made by the fishermen as a child, in days when protected species can still be searched now.

Seeing these dead monsters that were suspended by their tails sparked a “gallows -like” feeling, as it narrates, but not fear. Sharks were creatures in the depths of the ocean, browse, and browse in shallow bays.

But five years ago, his daughter Annika was bitten by the pig tank while diving the Great Marinitis. Although she survived, Mr. Karani made anxious about creatures – something that grows with every wonderful title about the attack.

“These things excite me … I am scary,” admits.

Although “MERC” was the second person who was killed by a shark attack in Sydney over the past six decades – The other is the British diver Simon Nelst in 2022 – From a little rest for those who use the city’s beaches regularly.

Every server to which the British Broadcasting Corporation spoke to it in the weeks that followed the death of Psillakis is that she feels that shark scenes are closer to the beach.

“We may have sometimes seen a dark shadow, but it could have been Dolphin,” says Mr. Karani. “Now, see them all the time.”

Some sharks are feared after several types – including two types of sharks in the world, large eggs and tigers – varying degrees of protection in Australian waters.

There is a few research on the numbers of sharks that you should categorically tell in any of the two directions – but experts argue with an increase in the viewer does not necessarily mean that there are more sharks.

Environmental experts suggest that warm oceans change swimming and nutrition patterns in sharks. But researchers say that any viewer’s increase is largely due to more and more people who enter water, and they are enlarged by social media.

The possibility of a bitten by a shark here in Australia remains accurate. You are more than several thousand times to drown. However, it is true that the country is a hot point for the shark.

It is second after the United States – a country of 13 times the people – sharks, and leads the world to deadly attacks, according to the international shark attack.

This database only tracks “unjustified” incidents – with the exception of those that are likely to encourage people through activities such as spear hunting – but a complete database is preserved for all sharks registered in Australia.

It indicates that shark attacks have increased widely in recent decades. Indeed, this year there were four fatal attacks – all unjustified.

New South Wales was about to experience the scope of its use of sharks – the oldest shark safety – when the last deadly attack occurred.

Shark Nets has been used in New South Wales since 1937 and these days are usually installed on 51 beach from September to March. Regardless of Queensland, the only country you still use.

It is impossible to insert the entire beaches – the circumference conditions are very strong and will simply wash the window.

Instead, the shark networks are about 150 meters (492 feet) and sits a few meters below the surface of the water. Although it is established on the sea floor at points, it does not reach the bottom. So sharks can go, below and around them.

“It is like throwing a handkerchief in the swimming pool,” said Professor of Sydney Chris Pepin-People.

The state government says that the Shark networks “are not designed to create a complete barrier between the squares and sharks”, but it aims to “intercept targeted sharks” during any hunting brings them near the beach.

But researchers such as Professor Pepin-NEFF say that the net is not very effective, and they give the illusion of safety rather than providing a real decrease in risk.

They notice that 40 % of the sharks are hunting in the nets are actually present on the beach side in an attempt to go out.

Many critics say they are cruel as well.

“They have been built to leave the shark or fish, and they are fatally effective, but unfortunately the fully random,” says Dean Karoubi, who, as a cinematic photographer and Ocean explorer, documents these nets for years.

Last season, approximately 90 % of the animals that were hunting in New South Wales networks were not targeted of species – including 11 extinction and eclipse sharks to a large extent. The nets along the eastern coast are also routinely formed by humpback whales on their annual emigration to and from tropical regions.

“They will pick up dolphins, turtles, fish and communication … If they are mammals or reptiles that breathe air, it is the death penalty [unless they’re freed in time]Cropp says.

Professor Pepin-NEFF believes that there is a risk that the animals that die in the net actually attract sharks to the beach as well.

“When other fish are hunting in those nets, they send an underwater vibration, such as the dinner bell ring,” says Professor Bebo-Peyf.

Although the general public is concerned about sharks, Nets’s support is diminished.

A survey conducted by Professor Pepin-NEF at Bondi Beach two years ago found that three quarters of the respondents would swim on the beach even if the shark was removed. A similar number said that they will not blame the state government for an attack.

There are alternatives to sharks.

Queensland and New South Wales also use drama lines, troop hooks based on their place. NSW uses a variety of lathy varies than the dramatic lines that alert the authorities that accelerate to mark or move sharks.

Western Australia has “environmental eyebrows” that are fully divided by a smaller cut from the coastal line with tight networks-better protection for swimmers, if not surfers, while reducing damage to marine life.

Some surfers use electromagnetic deterrent teams, and even a diving is described as a “bite resistant”.

There are also tagged shark tracking applications and alerting close swimmers if they approach beaches.

More drones are now used to do water patrols as well. In New South Wales, more than 300 now is now 50 separations and this number is expected to grow.

“They are eyes in the sky, not just a person watching from the edge of the water and may discover a fin.”

The tinnitus drones are particularly reassuring for the people who are flying today – we are in de, why, a nearby beach in the Gulf where the last killer attack occurred.

But because of the financing restrictions, the program only works during school holidays, when the beaches are more preoccupied.

“If we specify the location of a shark, we can tell the guard and can come out and break the shark actively with jet ski or we can evacuate water.”

“It is not just a negative action.”

With the emergence of alternative sharks and campaigns that highlight the number of nets in other marine life, it was decided that three beaches in Sydney will go without nets this summer.

But this plan was rapidly developed pending a report to the death of Psillakis.

His family issued a statement saying that he loved the ocean despite his risks, and described his death as “a tragic and inevitable accident.”

But the authorities are raised though.

“We are close to removing the net and then this tragic attack occurred,” says Mr. Cropp.

“No one wants the person who removes the shark window and then there is a deadly attack immediately after. You don’t want it to your conscience.”

Additional reports by Simon Atkinson.