SHARK MENACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23277, 21 February 1939, Page 14

SHARK MENACE

REDUCTION IN SYDNEY SUCCESS OF MESHING BEACHES NOW SAFER ATTACKS RARELY MADE [from OUR OWN correspondent] SYDNEY, Feb. 10 Many surf life-saving officials consider that a much-criticised scheme of shark-meshing put into operation by the New South Wales Government has been largely responsible lor the immunity l'rom shark attacks enjoyed on Sydney metropolitan beaches in the last two years. The meshing system was the outcome of an investigation by an expert committee, which recommended that the Government should subsidise a company to mesh sharks. Tenders were called and Cranwin Fisheries, Limited, received the contract. This company operates a fleet of small boats, which mesh each metropolitan beach at least once a week. The meshing is done by putting into position length-wise along the beach nets in which sharks become entangled. The Government paid a subsidy of 5s for each man-eater caught and 2s fid each for other varieties, the company also obtaining revenue from products, such as hides, oil and fish-meal, by boiling down the sharks. Results Confound the Critics Critics said that meshing was ridiculous as a means of reducing the shark menace to Sydney surfers, but the results seem to have confounded them. The number of alarms given to bathers this season has been one-tenth of other years. Constant meshing, it is considered, has scared the sharks off. Meshing between Palm Beach and C'ronulla was begun by the company on October 28, 1937. Since then more than 1500 sharks have been meshed along this 30-miles stretch of coastline. More than 900 of these were maneaters —whaler, tiger, grey nurse, blue pointer and white shark species. Reefs Frequented by Monsters Sharks were found to be much more prevalent off beaches north of the harbour than south. In the first years meshing—to October 26 last —catches of dangerous sharks ranged from 78 off Palm Beach, the most northerly resort, to 14, off South Narrabeen. A director of Cranwin Fisheries, Limited, Mr. N. D. Cran, said: "We have now a complete knowledge of the reefs which sharks frequent. It is very rarely that we catch any over clear sand. 1 think sharks frequent the northern beaches more because of the entrance to JHawkesbury River, at Palm Beach, and Long Reef, near Dee Why, and another reef at North Narrabeen. But catches on all the beaches now are not one-quarter of what they j were when we began."