The fatal attack revives the debate on controversial shark networks in Australia

The ocean has always been a big part of Glen Butler’s life.

He has been a surfer for 50 years and at the time he says he rarely thought of sharks.

“You are aware that you are stepping into their environment, so you are cautious,” the 61-year-old told the BBC.

But the confidence of G -n Butler for the water was broken last month.

He had surf with his friends one Saturday morning in the long reef in the northern beaches of Sydney. A few minutes after G -N -Butler came out of the water, his colleague surfer Mercury Poslakis was killed by a large white shark.

“It shakes us up a little,” admits G -N Bital. Mercury and his twin brother Mike were well known in the local community, he adds: “You will always say g’day.”

The murder revived the long and delicate debate on how to keep the beaches safe in the waters of Australia and turned the spotlights of the New South Wales (NSW).

Authorities here have a number of measures in their arsenal to mitigate the risk of shark attacks, but the most famous – and the most spectacular – are networks that unfold every summer on many beaches.

Environmentalists say the networks do more harm than the benefit – they do a little to stop the sharks from reaching popular vacations and to cause great harm to the other marine life – but very frightened beaches remain attached to them as another layer of protection.

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

But there are people who think that the daily ritual is becoming more and more fried.

Mirek Crani is one of them.

The 66-year-old Sydneysider remembers that he was involved in huge large white sharks derived from fishermen as a child, in the days that were now protected species, he can still be legally hunting.

Seeing these dead beasts hung from their tails, they caused a “gallows,” he says, but not fear. The sharks were the creatures of the deep ocean, he argued, and he was surfing into the spilled bays.

But five years ago, his daughter Annika was bitten by a pig shark, while a free diving of the big barrier reef. Although she survived, this made the crane alarmed by the beings – something that grows with every spraying title for attack.

“These things are triggering me … I’m scared,” he admits.

Although Merk was only the second person killed by Sydney’s attack in the last six decades – The other is the British diver Simon Nonstal in 2022. – This is a little comfort for those who regularly use the city’s beaches.

Every surfer that the BBC talks to during the weeks after the death of Psilakis said they felt that the observations of sharks closer to the shore were becoming more and more frequent.

“Sometimes we may have seen a dark shade, but it could have been a dolphin,” says Crany. “Now I see them all the time.”

Some fear that the number of sharks erupts after several species – including two most domestic sharks, great white and tigers – have been given to varying degrees of protection in Australian waters.

There are few studies on shark numbers, which to say in every way – but experts say that increasing observations does not necessarily mean that there are more sharks.

Environmental experts suggest that warming of the oceans changes the patterns of swimming and feeding sharks. But researchers say that any increase in observations is largely reduced to more and more people who enter the water and they are increasing from social media.

The likelihood of being bitten by a shark here in Australia is still a minute. You are several thousand times more likely to drown. However, it is true that the country is a hot spot for shark attack.

It is second after the United States – a country with 13 times more than people – for shark bites and leads the world for fatal attacks, according to the international shark attack file.

This database monitors only “trouble -free” incidents – except for the potentially encouraged by people through activities such as fishing per spear – but a more full database for all recorded shark interactions in Australia is maintained by the Tarnga Society.

This shows that shark attacks have increased significantly in recent decades. There are four fatal attacks this year – all unprovoked.

NSW was about to test the use of shark networks – its oldest shark safety method – when the last fatal attack happened.

Shark networks have been used in NSW since 1937 and nowadays are usually installed on 51 beaches from September to March. In addition to Queensland, this is the only condition that still uses them.

It is impossible to enclose entire beaches – the ocean conditions are too strong and would just wash the nets.

Instead, shark nets are about 150 m long (492 feet) and sit a few meters below the surface of the water. Although anchored to the seabed in dots, they do not reach the bottom. So the sharks can pass, below and around them.

“It’s like throwing a napkin into the pool,” professor at Sydney University Chris Pepin-Nef told the BBC.

The government of the state says that shark networks “are not designed to create a complete barrier between bathing and sharks,” but rather strive to “capture the target sharks” during any hunt that approach them to the shore.

But researchers such as Prof. Pepin-Nef say that networks are not very effective and give the illusion of safety rather than providing a real risk reduction.

They note that 40% of the sharks caught on the nets are actually on the beach, trying to get out.

Many critics say they are also cruel.

“They are built to strengthen sharks or fish and are deadly effective, but unfortunately completely indiscriminate,” says Dean Krop, who, as a cinematographer and Ocean Explorer, has been documenting these networks for years.

Last season, nearly 90% of the animals caught on NSW networks were not targeted species – including 11 critically threatened and largely obedient, gray sisters. Networks along the east coast also routinely entangle the humpback whales for their annual migration to and from the tropics.

“They will capture dolphins, turtles, fish, housing … And if they are a mammal for air breathing or reptile, it is a death sentence (unless they are released on time),” says Mr. Cropp.

Prof. Pepin-Nef believes that there is a danger that animals that die on the nets are actually attracting sharks on the beach as well.

“When other fish get caught in these nets, they somehow rotate and it sends vibration under water, something like ringing the bell for dinner,” says Prof. Pepin-Nef.

Although the general public is cautious of sharks, support for Nets seems to decline.

A poll conducted by Prof. Pepin-Nef on Bondi Beach two years ago has found that three-quarters of the respondents will swim on the beach, even if shark networks are displayed. Such a number said they would not blame the government of the state for attack.

And there are alternatives to shark networks.

Both Queensland and NSW also use drums that are lured hooks that are anchored on the spot. NSW uses a less deadly “intelligent” variety of drums that warn the authorities who rush to mark and then release or move sharks caught on them.

Western Australia has “eco-barriers” that completely break down smaller pieces of coastline with a more tightly woven net-offering better protection for swimmers, though not surfers, while minimizing the damage to marine life.

Some surfers use electromagnetic shark deterrent strips and even have wet suits that are bite -resistant.

There are also applications that track marked sharks and warn the swimmers nearby if they approach the beaches.

And more and more drones are already being used to patrol the water. In NSW, over 300 are already working on 50 vacations and this number is expected to grow.

“They are eyes in the sky, not just someone who looks from the edge of the water and maybe noticing a fin,” says drone operator Isaac Hiles.

The buzzing of his drone is especially soothing for the people where he flies today – we are in Dee why, the nearby beach in the bay where the recent fatal attack happened.

But due to the restrictions on funding, the program only works during school vacations when the beaches are more busy.

“If we find a shark, then we can tell the rescue security guard and they can go out and actively scatter the shark with a jet ski or we can evacuate the water.”

“This is not just a passive measure.”

With the advent of alternative shark and campaigns that emphasize the networks for other marine life, it was decided three beaches in Sydney to stay out of networks this summer.

But this plan was quickly detained in anticipation of a report on Psylakis’ death.

His family released a statement that said he loved the ocean despite his risks and called his death a “tragic and inevitable incident”.

However, the authorities are scared.

“We got so closer to the removal of the nets and then this tragic attack happened,” says G -N Cropp.

“Nobody wants to be the person who removes the shark nets and then has a fatal attack right after that. You don’t want that on your conscience.”

Additional reporting by Simon Atkinson.