New South Wales has one of the most expensive, technically advanced shark-attack-mitigation strategies in the world, costing a staggering $21.4 million a year.
And on 7 December the government announced it would spend another $2.5 million on shark-spotting drones to be deployed almost immediately at 50 beaches along the state’s coast.
Despite all this, there were four attacks a 46-hour period in NSW this week, one on a 12-year-old kid who is in intensive care and might not survive. One of the other victims is also in intensive care with reportedly horrific injuries.
You’d think that this would cause some reassessment from the minister responsible, Tara Moriarty.
But no. Instead, she simply posted a pathetic video to Instagram telling people to stay out of the water because conditions were too dangerous.
So the $24 million was a waste of money then.
She’s not the only one in denial. Unbelievably, Surf Lifesaving NSW posted a video yesterday explaining how effective the shark-spotting drones are. They’re not. They don’t work in low light, can’t spot a shark in turbulent water or against a rocky bottom, and can’t fly in strong winds. Besides, on Monday there was an attack at Manly Beach, where drones were available. They were either not deployed or didn’t spot the shark. Either way, they were utterly useless at precisely the moment when they were needed most.
It is beyond sickening that one of the organisations responsible for this week’s catastrophe responded not by reconsidering its methods but by covering its arse with a lame video pretending they know what they are doing.
They don’t.
And people are being killed. There were five deaths in Australia last year alone.
The real issue is that there are too many sharks in the water. This problem would disappear overnight if we reintroduced a controlled shark-fishing program (making tasty, cheap, fillets of flake available in shops again) and installed lethal nets all year round at all popular beaches. The effectiveness of these nets in protecting people were proven decades ago.
The only people arguing against this sensible proposal are those whose careers or jobs rely on maintaining the tragic status quo.
