Juvenile Whale’s Death Exposes NSW’s Reckless Shark Net Policy
- Ali Be
- Oct 31
- 2 min read
A juvenile humpback whale has tragically drowned after becoming entangled in a shark net at Coledale Beach, NSW, marking yet another failure of the NSW Shark Meshing Program.
The young whale, like thousands of others migrating along Australia’s east coast, was on its southerly journey back to Antarctica when it became ensnared. This whale never made it home.
Despite the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) claiming to remove shark nets during the whale migration season, this entanglement occurred after the nets were reinstalled on 1 September, well before the migration period had ended.
Repeated “Whale Strikes” Downplayed by DPI
This is far from an isolated event. According to the NSW Shark Management Program’s latest annual report, there have been at least nine whale entanglements in the 2024/25 meshing season. DPI refers to these as “whale strikes”, a term used when whales break the nets and escape, leaving behind torn mesh.
These incidents are framed as minor incidents because the whales happen to disentangle themselves. But their release in these cases is not the result of any rapid or competent response from DPI, it’s luck. At Coledale, that luck ran out.
This latest tragedy marks the 15th whale entanglement in shark nets across Queensland and New South Wales this year alone.
While this whale at Coledale is the first confirmed whale death in a shark net in 2025, it’s critical to note that there is no post-release monitoring or tracking of other entangled whales. Many of those that “escape” may later die from injuries or stress sustained during their ordeal - deaths that go uncounted and unseen.
This incident once again highlights the inherent danger of NSW’s outdated and ineffective shark culling program - one that misleads the public, does nothing to improve beach safety, and further, potentially leads to luring more predatory sharks closer to shore, to feed off of the deceased and/or vulnerable marine life caught in these nets.
The question must now be asked directly to NSW Premier Chris Minns:Will he act to modernise and strengthen the NSW Shark Mitigation Program by replacing nets with more drone surveillance and other non-lethal technologies, or will he continue to allow this carnage to unfold while claiming to have solicitude about beach safety?
The continuing presence of these indiscriminate killing devices demonstrates a disturbing disconnect between government rhetoric and actual responsibility.
The long overdue Federal Environment Law that grandfathers the loophole to practise the state’s shark culling program is on the table right now, and is likely to go in front of Parliament in a matter of weeks. We urge you to write to the federal environment minister Murray Watt, and ask him to remove one of the key loopholes in the current Act.
