SHARK nets will be removed from Illawarra beaches one month earlier this swim season to respond to increased turtle activity in April.

The measure is a number of changes made to the NSW Government’s 2024-25 Shark Management Program.

Over the 2024-25 season the Government says it will work to ensure the Shark Management Program is striking the right balance and meeting community expectations. The Minns Labor Government says it will engage with Wollongong City Council with a focus on the future use of the nets, and explore their eventual removal.

The Program includes a suite of new measures to be trialed, which will increase protections for marine life whilst shark nets remain in use, including:

• Removing shark nets one month earlier, on 31 March 2025, to respond to increased turtle activity in April.
• Increasing the frequency of net inspections by contractors during March from every 3rd day to every 2nd day.
• Surf Life Saving drone surveillance increased over nets during March to scout for turtles on the days contractors aren’t inspecting
• Trial of lights on nets to deter turtles and prevent their entanglement during February and March.

Shark nets across NSW are also fitted with acoustic warning devices, such as dolphin pingers and whale alarms, to deter and minimise the risks to those marine mammals.

The NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said the Government’s priority is the safety of beach goers; at the same time as being committed to protecting marine life.

“We will be working closely with local governments, SLSNSW and Surfing NSW over this season to ensure the future of this program works for the communities it operates in,” Minister Moriarty said.

“Importantly, this year we have responded to community feedback and taken significant steps to increase the program’s safeguards for marine animals.

“As we map the future of this program we will listen to local communities, and consider the best available evidence to ensure we are striking the right balance at our beaches.”

Greens candidate for Wollongong lord mayor at the September local government elections, Jess Whittaker is calling on the Government to keep shark nets out of the water altogether this summer.

“This an outrageous decision and will simply see more endangered marine life, such as dolphins, turtles, sting rays and non-target shark species die during the 2024/2025 summer swimming season,” Ms Whittaker said.

“Once again the State government has shown they clearly don’t care about our fantastic marine life. It’s disappointing they have decided to kick-the-can down the road instead of having the guts to end a program that is incredibly cruel and has no evidence behind it to demonstrate it keeps swimmers and surfers safe.

“People of the Illawarra were horrified to see footage of a bottlenose dolphin fatally entangled off Thirroul beach earlier this year,” she said.

“We will continue to campaign on this issue in the lead up to the local government elections in September because many people agree that this $86 million shark program is a cruel and ineffective waste of taxpayer money.

“To save lives at the beach we could use this money to invest in lifeguards, community education, fast responses if there is a shark interaction, drone surveillance and personal shark deterrent devices. Labor needs to keep shark nets out of the water now and cease the meaningless deaths of countless endangered species.

“Since 2012, there have been 166 Grey Nurse sharks killed in NSW shark nets. Grey Nurse sharks are critically endangered and are known as the Labradors of the sea. This program is leading to their extinction.

“The State government also hasn’t confirmed if the shark net off Garie Beach in the Royal National park will be put back in the water again this season. As we know, the road to Garie has been closed for two years and there are further delays to the repair work. But the net has remained at this empty beach for two seasons.

“This net alone has been responsible for the death of 109 non-target marine animals since 2012.”

The $21.5 million Shark Management Program for 2024-25 is designed to protect the safety of beach users from the across 25 local government areas from Tweed to Bega, by reducing interactions with sharks, whilst minimising the impact on other marine life. A range of techniques will be used in 2024-25 to achieve this objective, such as:

• Drone surveillance program using 50 drones, partnering with Surf Life Saving NSW
• 37 tagged shark listening stations, all year round along the NSW coast
• 305 SMART (Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time) drumlines across 19 LGAs, all year
• Shark nets at 51 beaches across eight LGAs, 1 September 2024 to 31 March 25
• Funding Surfing NSW $500,000 to provide mitigation support and services including trauma response kits, drones and training
• SharkSmart community education program, including shark and social research.

Over the 2023-24 season 400 drone pilots for Surf Life Saving NSW were trained, who flew more than 36,000 flights across nearly 10,000 hours. Through this use of drones 362 sharks were observed.

SMART drumlines have also been used as an effective tool to keep swimmers safe on NSW beaches, allowing over 413 target sharks such as white, tiger and bull sharks, to be caught, tagged and released last year.

Once tagged, the state’s 37 coastal tagged shark listening stations can track these sharks near the beaches where the device is based – with this information available to anyone with the SharkSmart app, website of on X (Twitter).

Over 2,000 target sharks have been tagged over the life of the program, and are monitored by listening stations.

For more information visit www.sharksmart.nsw.gov.au

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