A deep dive on sharks and the law in NSW

A spate of recent shark attacks has spurred public debate over how to balance measures to mitigate sharks from entering public swimming and surf beaches with recognising the ocean as the natural habitat of these animals, requiring people to take greater responsibility for checking conditions, alerts, and heeding warnings via the NSW Shark Smart app and social media.

On 20 January, a fourth person was bitten by a shark on the NSW coastline within 28 hours. The man was surfing near the Point Plomer campground, about 450km north of Sydney, when a shark bit his board, causing the man to sustain chest wounds. The attacks proceeded days of heavy rain, which flushes nutrients into the water and attracts sharks closer to the shore. The fourth attack occurred near a river mouth, well known to be an area where sharks congregate according to the chief executive of Surf Life Saving NSW, Steve Pearce.

On 19 January, a surfer was bitten at Dee Why Beach, then another attack hours later in Manly resulted in a 27-year-old experiencing substantial injuries. A day earlier, a 12-year-old boy was also critically injured when bitten near a popular Sydney Harbour beach. He later died in hospital.

Dr Daryl McPhee, associate professor of environmental science at Bond University, told the BBC that even though Australia is a global shark attack hotspot, there is very little chance of being attacked, and that the recent attacks in NSW are a rare phenomenon.

“This series of bites from bull sharks in such a short period of time is highly unusual,” said McPhee. Bull sharks are attracted to fish that concentrate around rivers and beaches, especially in post-rain, murky water.

In an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald on 20 January, academic and author Chris Pepin-Neff lamented that evidence-based warnings were not issued weeks ago. The warnings he referenced were, “Stay out of Sydney Harbour and the beach after a rainstorm. Wait 72 hours after a storm to swim in the harbour and be mindful of swimming or surfing at ocean beaches for 24 hours after a large downpour.”

He proposed that measures be taken to mitigate factors that draw bull sharks to popular public beaches, including the repair and maintenance of sewage pipes that overflow into Sydney Harbour, Bondi, and the Parramatta River. Treating sewage and water, he suggested would be optimal prevention policies to prevent shark attacks.

Partner at Addisons, Penny Murray advises public and private sector clients in the property, development, infrastructure, energy, resources and manufacturing sectors on complex planning, environment and regulatory issues.

She says, “The EPA is responsible for regulating the intentional discharge and overflows of sewage into the harbour and at ocean outfalls. Sydney Water has the benefit of EPA licences relating to its sewer system including ocean outfalls and those licences contain limits on the discharges. The EPA in issuing and supervising such licensed activities would be expected to consider all aspects of the environment in doing so in light of the objects of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 which include reduction of risks to human health and prevention of degradation of the environment. It is my experience that there are regular and ongoing attempts by both Sydney Water and the EPA to reduce the chances of and environmental harm from sewer overflows.”

Sydney Water responds

A spokesperson for Sydney Water told LSJ Online that: “Whilst heavy rainfall is a common occurrence, shark attacks in Sydney and NSW waters are very rare.”

They added, “Sydney Water takes water quality very seriously. It continues to upgrade wastewater treatment, stormwater management and monitoring systems, with publicly reported outcomes demonstrating ongoing protection of waterways, beaches and the marine environment, including stringent oversight by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.

“Overall, water quality in Sydney Harbour and NSW estuaries has been stable or improving.”

The spokesperson said: “Sydney Water is undertaking a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of the network, with around $34 billion to be invested over the next decade. This plan to modernise Sydney’s wastewater infrastructure includes:

• upgrades to the North Head system and a new facility at Camellia by 2031.
• upgrades to Malabar and Georges River systems by 2029.
• upgrades to the Bondi system, including diverting flows from Diamond Bay and Vaucluse by 2028.”

NSW Government Shark Smart

On 7 December 2025, the NSW Government announced a further $2.5 million towards the 2025/26 Shark Smart Program. The plan channelled millions of dollars into “more drones and earlier patrols for NSW beaches this summer”.

In addition to the SharkSmart app that is designed to provide real-time alerts, the Shark Management Program includes 305 SMART drumlines, 51 shark nets, 37 tagged shark listening stations, and partnerships with Surf Life Saving NSW and Surfing NSW to provide shark surveillance drones, trauma kits and training.

The SharkSmart X account posts real-time sighting and shark release information, including the location of the shark and the time it was last detected.

SMART (Shark-Management-Alert-In-Real-Time) drumlines consist of an anchor, two buoys and a satellite-linked GPS communications unit attached to a hook baited with one sea mullet. According to DPI NSW, “When a shark takes the bait and puts pressure on the line, the magnet is released alerting the boat crew and DPIRD scientists that there is an animal on the line. Once alerted, the team responds immediately (within 30 minutes) to tag and release the shark or other marine animal. SMART drumlines are set every morning (weather dependent) approximately 500m offshore at a depth between 8-15m of water.”

Shark nets have been used in NSW since 1937. They are typically installed from September to March on 51 beaches in NSW. The only other state to use them is Queensland.

Department responds to recent attacks

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) provided a timely response to LSJ Online.

“The NSW Government’s number one priority is the safety of beach goers while minimising harm to sharks and other marine life,” they said, also outlining the $24 million 2025/2026 Shark Management Program as detailed above.

“The recent spate of shark bites in the Sydney region is unprecedented, but similar clusters of bites have previously occurred in Australia and overseas. The key driver behind this week’s spate of bull shark incidents in Sydney was the intense rainfall seen over the last week. This deluge flushed runoff including nutrients and organic matter and the warmer water that was in the harbour and Hawkesbury River onto our beaches, creating the turbid and murky waters that are ideal conditions for bull sharks.”

They continued, “There are no guarantees or silver bullets when it comes to shark mitigation. Our public advice through the SharkSmart program is always for water users to exercise caution and understand conditions that may increase chances of encountering a shark, including after heavy rain or when water is murky; during periods of low-light such as dawn and dusk; or when there is a lot of baitfish in the area.”

The spokesperson said that the NSW Government is always seeking to improve the program.

“Our Shark Management Program is always being reviewed to incorporate the latest data and research from the Department, consider community and Council feedback, and deliver additional resources when required.”

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) campaigns for greater protections for sharks, including calling for an end to the shark culling programs in Queensland and NSW that have been in place for nearly a century.

Both governments have maintained a culling program that uses drumlines and shark nets that indiscriminately catch threatened species and a variety of other marine species. AMCS claims that during their 90 years of usage, shark nets and drumlines have caught and killed at least 15,135 other marine animals in NSW alone, including turtles, whales, dolphins, rays, and dugongs.

Challenge to nets and drumlines

In 2019, the Queensland Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) handed down a major decision regarding the Queensland Shark Control Program, in which it found that the relevant shark nets and drumlines were ineffective in improving the safety of swimmers, and had no scientific evidence for ongoing use. The result was that the Queensland Government, which appealed against the decision, ultimately had to implement non-lethal, tag-and-release conditions for the drumlines that must be monitored in real-time. The original AAT decision – Humane Society International (Australia) Inc and Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (Qld) [2019] AATA 617 (2 April 2019) was upheld by the Federal Court months later – State of Queensland (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) v Humane Society International (Australia) Inc [2019] FCAFC 163 (18 September 2019).

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) had approved the Queensland Government’s application to renew the permit for the Shark Control Program, which spurred the Humane Society International (Australia) to apply for review of this decision.

In October 2025, the Humane Society International (Australia) released a statement saying: “There is regularly a chorus of scientists in the media pointing out that shark nets and traditional drumlines are not barriers and that they do not prevent sharks from coming into shore. The shark nets we are protesting are not the nets that form genuine barriers and enclosures at beaches without surf, they are the shark culling nets installed 500 metres offshore from surf beaches, that have been designed to catch and kill sharks, as well as every other large animal with the misfortune to swim into them.”

In 2024, a report from NSW scientists stated that “… at present there is no evidence that such actions [shark nets] do decrease fatalities … in the area where nets are deployed they could not detect differences between netted and non-netted beaches in attack.”

Several species of shark are protected in Australia by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. These include:

• grey nurse shark
• great white shark
• dwarf sawfish
• green sawfish
• shortfin mako
• porbeagle
• school shark
• Harrisson’s dogfish
• southern dogfish.

In 2021, NSW Fisheries posted a reminder that shark baiting is illegal. Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries issued a public statement that “targeting Great White sharks for sport or any other purpose, such as deliberately baiting a shark to attract it to a boat, is illegal.

The intentional baiting of Great Whites and other threatened species of sharks has a maximum penalty of $11,000 and/or 2 years imprisonment if found guilty. A $500 on-the-spot fine may also be issued to anyone caught shark baiting.

A person cannot harm, interfere with, harass, chase, tag or mark a threatened species of shark. This includes activity undertaken to deliberately attract a threatened shark species or attempting to do so.

These penalties fall under the Fisheries Management Act 1994 (NSW).