Great White Shark Caught In Nets Off Sydney’s Bondi Beach!
A near three-meter-long great white Shark was caught off waters of Sydney’s popular Bondi beach days before the official commencement of summer in Australia. According to The Australian, the great white shark was dead when a routine patrol of the nets around Bondi beach revealed the animal. The great white shark was 2.5 meters long, making it a mid sized specimen of the dreaded man-eating species of shark.
According to officials from Australia’s Department of Primary Industries, the shark was spotted after a patrol boat was doing routine checks of the nets. The nets have been planted around Bondi beach to prevent man eating predators – especially great white sharks from coming closer to the coast and harm people. The nets around the beach are part of Australia’s meshing program which indirectly designed to protect nearly two million beach going Australians from predators, reports SMH. While the meshing program does not cover the complete stretch of Bondi beach (or any other Australian beach for that matter), they have been instrumental in keeping great white sharks away from the coast and deter them. Officials confirmed that the nets around the area is physically checked every 72 hours.
2.5 metre great white shark caught in nets off Sydney’s Bondi Beach. http://t.co/sD2cbuofpA (Pic: Ten News) pic.twitter.com/0nMAcAOmlz
— The Australian (@australian) November 19, 2014
Great white #shark trapped in the nets at #Bondi beach http://t.co/yUcvehz58T pic.twitter.com/SAK2J5uRXP
— Lucy Thackray (@LucyThack) November 19, 2014
In a statement, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries said
“A male great white shark of approximately 2.5 metres in length was found in a shark net off Bondi Beach on Wednesday morning. The shark was found during routine inspections by specialist contractors who carry out operations as part of the NSW shark meshing program.”
At this stage it is unclear as to how the great white shark died. An autopsy will be conducted on it – albeit only for research purposes.
The spokesman from the Department of Primary Industries reiterated.
“The nets at Bondi beach do not stretch from one end of the beach to the other and were not designed to create a total barrier between bathers and sharks. They are designed to deter sharks from establishing territories, thereby reducing the odds of a shark encounter.”
These nets around the beaches of Australia have been in existence since 1937 and is nothing new, the spokesperson conformed.
This great White shark is among the 172 sharks that were caught by West Australian authorities in 2014. Another 68 were shot and killed off the beaches before they could attack humans. Officials have however confirmed that they have no plans to cull any more sharks this summer.
The news of the netting of this great white shark comes days after the Inquisitr had reported about an incident in Florida where a shark bit a surfer.
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
