Killer nets don’t stop the sharks
competition-based; our program is more about having fun and experiencing the joy and the confidence and the fun of surfing; its not about winning a race.’’
Mr Stark said the program had so far exceeded expectations, attracting more than 8000 individual children to 80 accredited coaching schools last summer.
‘‘It’s been an incredible story,’’ Mr Stark said.
‘‘We’ve had just amazing feedback from parents and kids and schools, and Vegemite has just signed up as sponsor for another three years.’’
He said the program hoped to expand to 10,000 participants this summer through a grassroots campaign targeting primary schools along the Coast.
Surf Life Saving Queensland CEO John Brennan said he was aware of Surfing Australia’s program, with both bodies working closely together.
‘‘SLSQ is aware of the SurfGroms
success program run by Surfing Australia; however, we are not aware of the beach safety messages taught by (the) program,’’ Mr Brennan said.
‘‘Any reinforcement of surf safety is great in terms of community awareness but given that surfing takes place outside the red and yellow flags, we can’t comment on how aligned the SurfGroms content is to our key message of only swim at patrolled beaches between the red and yellow flags.’’
Mr Brennan said SLSQ’s Juniors or Nippers season, which starts on September 22, catered for children aged 5-13 with more than 5300 participants on the Gold Coast alone.
The SurfGroms season will be launched at Currumbin Alley tomorrow from 6-10am, with giveaways and free surf lessons from surfing greats, including four-times world champion Mark Richards.
Professor Daryl McPhee THE use of shark nets has been slammed in a report that has found they fail to keep sharks away from beaches but are ‘‘effective at killing a lot of animals’’.
Bond University Environmental Science professor Daryl McPhee was commissioned by the West Australian Government to study the effectiveness of shark netting and other exclusion programs, and returned with a highly critical report.
Prof McPhee said he found shark nets should not be installed in new areas because they were extremely expensive and killed hundreds of non-target species, including whales, dolphins, marine turtles, dugongs, stingrays and harmless sharks such as the hammerhead.
Shark nets stretching along many Gold Coast beaches were studied as part of the report and were found to kill many unsuspecting marine animals.
‘‘Shark nets are very effective at killing a lot of animals,’’ Prof McPhee said.
‘‘They are not continuous and do not provide complete protection from sharks.
‘‘About 40 per cent of sharks caught were on the inside of the nets, meaning they had already been to the beach and were trying to get back out.
‘‘Shark nets are part and parcel of the Queensland coastline and appear to be here to stay.’’
Prof McPhee said many innocent marine creatures, including whales and dolp h i n s , o f t e n b e c a m e entangled in nets and died.
He said shark-proof swimming enclosures, which could stretch along an entire beach, was a better option.
‘‘I recommend they consider shark enclosures rather than nets,’’ Prof McPhee said.
WA is seeking public comment on the report.