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As northern New South Wales residents continue to debate the best way to deal with shark attacks in the region, we take a look at the pros and cons of the most popular options available to protect people from ocean predators.

Nets

The New South Wales Government believes shark nets are worth trialling and plans to install shark nets in a trial off the north coast before the end of the year.

PROS: Statistics support their efficacy, with one fatality at a netted beach between Newcastle and Wollongong in the past 70 years and an overall drop in shark interactions with humans since nets were installed around Sydney and Queensland.

CONS: Nets float above the sea floor and are placed in sections, so do not provide an enclosed area or barrier between people and sharks.

There will be bycatch: in the 2014-2015 meshing season, 44 target sharks and 145 non-target marine life were entangled off netted NSW beaches.

There is also the financial cost of installation and personnel to monitor the nets for bycatch.

Culling

Shark culling is a term used to describe the blatant killing of sharks and is also used by some to describe the use of traditional drumlines.

PROS: Supporters argue fewer sharks equal fewer attacks.

CONS: Associate Professor Adam Stow, of Macquarie University told the ABC that: "Killing sharks risks disruption to the ecology of the ocean".

Dr Daniel Bucher from Southern Cross University told the ABC: "Great whites are a threatened species and the existing population is already low. You would have to kill a lot of sharks to create the level of depletion needed to result in a measurable drop in the risk to humans".

Shark spotting

Shark-spotting programs using surveillance techniques, including drones, private helicopters, observation towers and even blimps, are being trialled in various locations across the globe.

PROS: Ability to sight sharks from the air and potentially give warning to water-goers through the use of sirens or signals.

CONS: Can not be everywhere at once, possible visibility issues when water clarity is not ideal, financial cost of hiring aircraft and/or personnel to conduct surveillance, water-users may ignore warnings.

Apps

The Dorsal App claims to be Australia's largest shark alerts and reporting service. Shark sightings and reports from the public as well as from government and emergency services are recorded, with alerts sent out to user's smart phones and via social media.

PROS: Gives the public an opportunity to report sightings, quick alert time after initial report, free of charge.

CONS: Reports can not be received in the water, possibility of hoax reports, impossible to report every shark.

Traditional drumlines

A drum line consists of a large, baited hook suspended from a large plastic float, which in turn is anchored to the sea bed.

PROS: Statistics support the efficacy of drumlines in reducing shark attacks. Professor Colin Buxton of the University of Tasmania told the ABC: "the use of shark nets and drum lines is a proven way of reducing shark attack, however the public need to understand and acknowledge that this works by killing sharks".

CONS: Traditional drumlines are designed to kill sharks.

In December 2013, the Western Australian Government announced the deployment of drum lines along popular beaches, but no permanent drum lines have been used in WA since April 30, 2014.

According to a spokesperson for WA's Fisheries Minister Ken Baston, in September 2014 the WA Government withdrew its proposal for the operation of drum lines for a further three years because the WA Environmental Protection Authority found there to be a: "high degree of scientific uncertainty about impacts [of drum lines] on the south-western white shark population".

Smart drumlines

A smart drum line is based on the traditional drumline design, but includes technology that can alert rangers to the capture of marine life and they can then attend the device if sea conditions permit.

Depending on government policy, dangerous sharks can be euthanased or transported out to sea, while other non-target marine life can be released. The NSW Government plans to relocate and release sharks caught by drum lines.

PROS: Ability to save sharks once they are caught.

CONS: Contractor required to check drumlines and relocate the sharks, contractor needs to reach the caught shark in a timely manner, other marine life may be caught.

Sonar technology

Sonar devices known as Clever Buoys are said to detect all varieties of marine animals over two metres long, based on the way they move through the water.

The data is bounced to a satellite and an alert is sent to lifeguards and coastal authorities through a mobile phone app.

Some trials of the technology have taken place, with another trial due to begin this year at Port Stephens.

PROS: Swimmers and surfers can be warned if a shark is detected close to shore.

CONS: Further testing needed, including to see if large fish and non-target marine life are picked up by the buoys.

Tagging

Acoustic tagging is the primary method used to tag white sharks in Australia.

The tags are attached to a small arrow-head and a short tether and are usually attached to sharks using a tag pole as they swim past a vessel.

Acoustic pulses from tags are detected by underwater receivers also known as listening stations but sharks need to swim close (typically within 500 metres) to a listening station for its acoustic tag to be detected.

Fin-mounted satellite tags are also commonly used.

PROS: Allows shark movement and behaviour to be monitored and studied, swimmers and surfers can be warned if a shark is detected close to shore.

CONS: Shark biologist Dr Rachel Robbins told Radio National: "The problem is, it could lead people into a false sense of security because they'll think 'there hasn't been a detection in two weeks', however we're only looking at tagged sharks and we're only going to ever be able to tag a very small portion of the shark population at any one time".

Shark barriers

Shark barriers are usually made from plastic and nylon and attached to pylons on the beach and offshore, and anchored to the ocean bed with large chains. They have been trialled in Western Australia.

PROS: Provide a complete barrier between swimmers and sharks. Marketed as 'eco friendly' having become artificial habitats for marine life.

CONS: Trial was abandoned in two locations in northern New South Wales because the barriers could not withstand rough conditions and surfers were concerned the barriers would pose a risk to their safety by snagging and trapping them underwater.

The unsuccessful trial in Lennox Head resulted in debris from the half-built barriers polluting the area and the estimated cost of the unsuccessful trial was $2.6 million.

Personal repellents

A range of commercial products that claim to deter sharks from humans are available. These include electrical, magnetic, acoustic and spray repellents.

PROS: An electrical repellent known as the 'shark shield' has been independently shown to be effective at deterring sharks from biting, most of the time.

Marketers of a range of the products claim on their websites to have tested their efficacy, however the results range from working "some of the time" to "only on particular sharks" or "temporarily".

CONS: Choice Magazine rated a range of personal shark repellent devicesin January 2016 and said: "If fear of a shark attack is stopping you from entering the water, then forking out for a personal shark deterrent may provide some peace of mind. But be aware of their limitations - many devices haven't undergone independent testing, and no device will protect you in all circumstances".

Coloured surfboards

Surfer Mick Fanning changed the colour of his board from yellow to dark blue after hearing sharks were attracted to lightly coloured, shiny things.

PROS: Worth a try if it's true.

CONS: Unproven.

Shark deterring wetsuits

Black wetsuits have been criticised by some for making swimmers and surfers look like seals. A range of brightly coloured and striped wetsuits are currently being marketed as shark deterring outfits.

PROS: Less likely to make wearer look like a seal.

CONS: Still being tested.

Staying out of the water

"You're in their territory" is a common refrain from those who believe the best way to protect humans from sharks is to enter the water at your own risk.

PROS: Guaranteed to avoid a shark encounter by staying on land.

CONS: No more swimming/surfing/kayaking etc.

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Protecting humans from sharks: What are the options?

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As northern New South Wales residents continue to debate the best way to deal with shark attacks in the region, we take a look at the pros and cons of the most popular options.

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks are opportunistic feeders, but most sharks primarily feed on smaller fish and invertebrates. Some of the larger shark species prey on seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack. Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, skin, and fins in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.

Sharks are a valuable part of marine ecosystems, but overfishing threatens some shark populations. NOAA Fisheries conducts research on shark habitats, migratory patterns, and population change in order to understand how to best protect and maintain a stable shark population.

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national oceanic and atmospheric administration

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks primarily feed on smaller fish but some species prey upon seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

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Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks primarily feed on smaller fish but some species prey upon seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.

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But even if sharks weren't wary of us and even if they weren't misunderstood, who are we to cull them? Who are we to go on a massacre when there's a shark attack somewhere? Aren't we in their territory? Aren't we imposing on them? As scuba divers, snorkelers, surfers and spearfishermen, we make the active choice to enter their territory and therefore (should) accept the consequences of what happens to us.

So without further ado, here are 5 really good reasons why we should protect sharks.

Reason 1. Sharks help maintain the reef

Sharks are an incredibly important part of the ecosystem. They keep the reef eating fish populations in check, which prevent the reef eating fish from overeating the reef. If the sharks go, then the fish populations will run rampant and the reef will get eaten away pretty quickly. The reef actually produces a huge amount of the oxygen in the air that we breathe, so without the reef, on-land populations will die as well. Grim.

Reason 2. Sharks are worth more alive than dead

Studies have shown that the worth of a shark is far more when its alive than when it's dead. While the numbers vary for each location, on average, you get roughly $100 for a dead shark (they normally just take the fins), while a living shark will bring in over 1.5 million dollars over the average lifetime. Sharks are not only good for the reef, they're good for tourism. They're good for local communities. This theory doesn't just apply to sharks, it also applies to pretty much every other animal, both on land and under the sea, like elephants, rhinos, gorillas, whales, turtles, lions...the list goes on.

Reason 3. Shark finning is incredibly cruel

Imagine you're walking down the street, minding your own business, when someone drags you onto a dinghy, cuts your limbs off and leaves you face down in shallow water, shallow enough that you can sort of lift your head out of the water so you don't drown immediately, but still enough water that you will eventually bleed out and drown at the same time. That is the closest thing I can relate to a shark's experience when it gets finned.

With the exception of nurse sharks, all sharks need to be constantly moving forward so that they can push water through their gills and breathe. When sharks are finned, their bodies are pulled up onto the boat, their fins are hacked off and then their bodies are thrown back into the water to leave more space on the boat. The sharks then slowly drown. All of this cruelty for a substance that has no flavor and no nutritional value. Shark fin is cruel and useless.

Reason 4. They're more afraid of you than you are of them

There were 12 fatal shark attacks in 2015. Do you want to know how many sharks we killed that year? Over 100 million. One hundred million sharks. 100,000,000. Versus 12 humans. Are you getting it? And every time there is a shark attack somewhere, we go on a rampage and kill every shark in the area. Why?

Sharks are misunderstood. They genuinely want nothing to do with us. The reason that shark attacks are increasing is because humans have taken a large part of their food supply because of our unsustainable fishing techniques and consumption, and so sharks are now moving closer to land to find food. We are the reason that they are moving closer to shore, and then we get upset when we see them close to shore. Does that make any sense at all?

Reason 5. Sharks are just amazing

Sharks are exquisite animals. They are the best. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to create the perfect marine predator, moving effortless through the water. Honestly, watching sharks cruise through the current is an incredibly life affirming event. Sharks are extraordinary, and deserve to be seen as such.

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5 Really Good Reasons To Protect Sharks - Roatan Divers

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But even if sharks weren't wary of us and even if they weren't misunderstood, who are we to cull them? Who are we to go on a massacre when there's a shark attack somewhere? Aren't we in their territory? Aren't we imposing on them?

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Preventing extinctions has been a primary aim of shark and ray conservation for decades, but the numbers don't lie. These efforts - including our own - haven't kept pace with the threats. We all need to raise our level of ambition if we want to reverse the tragic loss of biodiversity in our ocean. More efforts are needed to actively recover depleted populations for the benefit of our ocean and people who depend on it.

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WWF Sharks | Shark and Ray Conservation | Saving our Sharks

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Preventing extinctions has been a primary aim of shark and ray conservation for decades, but the numbers don't lie. These efforts - including our own - haven't kept pace with the threats. We all need to raise our level of ambition if we want to reverse the tragic loss of biodiversity in our ocean.

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Let's face it-sharks have a bad rap. Thanks to sensationalized stories and stereotyping, sharks have become feared rather than revered. They're labeled as dangerous, indiscriminate killers that eat anything in sight. But in fact, sharks are most often the victims. They're killed by the millions annually to supply demand for their fins, which are made into soup and eaten as a status symbol. Such demand for fins has led to overfishing and illegal fishing, depleting shark populations worldwide.

Sharks are a critical part of the marine environment and must be protected. WWF is working to reduce bycatch of vulnerable fish populations, like sharks. We are advocating for better trade protections at international meetings (such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES)), and our efforts have paid off. In 2013, some of the most threatened sharks and rays received the attention they deserved and governments will now take steps to ensure they are sustainably caught and traded legally. In addition, WWF is working through TRAFFIC to address the trade in shark fins and meat, striving for better fishing regulations to protect shark populations and also reduce market demand.

However, our work continues as many other shark species still remain unprotected and heavily exploited. Here we address and dispel some of the most common shark myths and deliver the shark facts. Take a look and learn a bit more about these fascinating fish.

SHARK MYTH #1: ARE ALL SHARKS BIG WITH LOTS OF SHARP TEETH?
Not all sharks are large, bulky and torpedo-shaped like the ones we see in movies. There are actually more than 400 different species of sharks and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the tiny 8-inch-long deepwater dogfish to the massive 40-foot-long whale shark. The basking shark has tiny teeth that it doesn't even use for feeding, and the horn shark also has molar-like teeth that it uses to crush hard-shelled prey.

SHARK MYTH #2: ARE SHARKS ALL MAN-EATERS?
Humans are not food for sharks. The sharks involved in incidents with humans are often hunting for similar-sized prey to humans, such as seals or dolphins. The majority of shark species actually eat fish or invertebrates, such as squid or clams. There's a diversity of feeding behaviors: large filter feeders, such as the whale shark, strain plankton through modified gills, while bottom-dwelling suction feeders, such as the nurse shark, appear to "inhale" food into their mouths.

SHARK MYTH #3: HOW IMPORTANT ARE SHARKS?
Healthy shark populations are linked to thriving marine ecosystems. Losing sharks deprives coastal communities in many countries of livelihoods, food, and tourism opportunities.

SHARK MYTH #4: CAN ANYTHING HURT SHARKS
Shark populations around the world are in rapid decline and are impacted by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and trapped in ghost nets. Sharks grow relatively slowly, take many years to mature and produce relatively few young. They also suffer from the large and growing demand for shark fins and the general lack of management of shark fishing. Populations simply cannot replenish at the same rate as they are caught and finned to meet market demand. Sharks are also often caught as bycatch in longlines, trawl nets and seine nets, and simply discarded.

SHARK MYTH #5: DO SHARKS ATTACK PEOPLE OFTEN?
There were only five shark-related human deaths in 2018 compared to tens of millions of sharks killed annually by people. Sharks are in all the world's oceans, but shark attacks are extremely rare. In fact, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a shark.
Source for shark attacks statistics: Florida Museum of Natural History Myth #1: Whale Shark; Myth #2: Nurse Sharks; Myth #3 Caribbean Reef Sharks and fish; Myth #4: Thresher Shark; Myth #5: Silvertip Shark

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Let's face it-sharks have a bad rap. Thanks to sensationalized stories and stereotyping, sharks have become feared rather than revered. They're labeled as dangerous, indiscriminate killers that eat anything in sight. But in fact, sharks are most often the victims. They're killed by the millions annually to supply demand for their fins, which are made into soup and eaten as a status symbol.

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Think all sharks are gigantic, toothy eating machines? Think again: With more than 500 species of sharks, you're sure to meet a few that surprise you. For instance, some sharks have teeth so small that they can't take a bite out of anything. Others are practically vegetarian! "You think you understand sharks, and then they do something that totally shocks you," says Lisa Natanson, a biologist who studies sharks for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lemon sharks: Fishy friends

Can't wait to hang out with your BFF? Neither can these sharks. Young lemon sharks often stick together for protection, helping each other watch out for larger sharks and other predators. But scientists have learned that lemon sharks won't befriend just anybody. "They prefer to spend time with sharks that they've met before instead of strangers," says Clemency White, a researcher at the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas. The sharks hang out with the same friends for years, following each other or swimming next to each other. And when scientists studied the pups in a predator-free environment, these sharks still chose to swim together rather than alone. Maybe these fish need matching friendship bracelets.

Whale sharks: Gentle giants

A whale shark's mouth is so wide that a 10-year-old kid could fit inside. But don't worry: These sharks are mostly slurping up tiny shrimp like plankton about as small as a few grains of sand. Whale sharks feed by swimming slowly with their mouths open and filtering the tiny plants and animals out of the water. The largest fish in the world, whale sharks can be longer than a school bus and weigh 50,000 pounds-about four times as much as an African elephant. "They're so big that not many animals are going to bother them," Natanson says. "So they tend to be very easygoing sharks."

Chain catsharks: Green glowers

Through your eyes, the chain catshark seems to have brownish-yellow skin with black chain-shaped markings. But to another chain catshark swimming 1,600 to 2,000 feet below the surface, the fish glows in the dark! Pigments in the sharks' skin absorb the blue light in the ocean and reflect it as green. These sharks have special cells in their eyes-called receptors-to see it. Because the glow patterns are different for males and females, scientists think these shy sharks use this ability to attract mates. "In that deep, dark environment, the sharks need to be able to find each other," Natanson says.

Great white sharks: Picky eaters

Sure, great whites have 300 triangular teeth and the ability to smell a drop of blood in 25 gallons of water. But that doesn't mean these top predators will chomp everything in their path. In fact, when great whites bite people, they usually release them. Scientists think it could be because humans aren't on their menu, unlike seals, sea lions, and dolphins. "It'd be like if you picked up a drink thinking it's soda, and it turned out to be coffee-bleh!" Natanson says. But it might also be that these curious sharks are just investigating a new object the only way they can: with their mouths!

Greenland sharks: Ocean oldies

If you think your grandpa is old, just wait until you meet this fish. A Greenland shark swimming through deep, freezing Arctic water today might have been born when George Washington became the first president of the United States! This shark species can live for nearly 300 years-and possibly as many as 500 years. That's the longest of any vertebrate (an animal with a backbone). Experts are still trying to figure out how these sharks can survive so long, but they think their icy-cold habitat and seriously slow lifestyle (a Greenland shark's heart beats only once every 12 seconds; yours beats about once a second) might have something to do with their seemingly non-stop birthday parties.

Bonnethead sharks: Salad snackers

Bonnethead sharks are leafy-green eating machines. In fact, seagrass can make up over half of the bonnetheads' diet. Scientists aren't sure if these coastal sharks are trying to snack on the plants, or if they accidentally get a side salad while scooping up shrimp, mollusks, and blue crabs hiding in the seagrass. Unlike almost all other sharks, which are carnivores and don't eat plants, bonnetheads have a special digestive system that can absorb nutrients from greens. Hey, bonnethead-you have a leaf stuck in your teeth!

Spinner sharks: Airborne acrobats

Some sharks ambush their prey; others bump them before going in for a bite. But only one shark species flies: spinner sharks. These predators glide beneath a school of tuna or sardines, eyeing the tasty fish huddled together in a protective ball-like shape. With a burst of energy, the shark swims toward the surface with its mouth open, its slim body twirling through the water like a ballerina. Score! The shark nabs a fish-but the show's not over yet. The shark's momentum pushes it up to 20 feet out of the water, rotating several times before splashing back down. Now that's a fin-tastic show!

Text from the June / July 2020 issue of National Geographic Kids magazine.

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Dive in to discover seven species of sharks with mind-blowing traits.