SYDNEY: A great white shark has been caught in nets at Sydney's Bondi Beach, authorities said Saturday, the second of the predators found dead at the popular swimming spot this week.
The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries said the carcass, which was found at the northern end of the beach about 500 metres from the shoreline, had been removed.
"A deceased male great white shark approximately 2.15 metres (7 feet) in length was retrieved from a shark net off the northern end of Bondi Beach this morning," a spokeswoman said Saturday.
"A 1.1 metre stingray was found alive in the net and successfully released."
On Wednesday a 2.5 metre great white was found during the regular inspections of the nets at Bondi which are designed to protect swimmers from the animals.
Popular beaches across Sydney and New South Wales state have been partially netted since 1937.
While the netting -- which does not stretch the entire length of Bondi -- is there to create a barrier between swimmers and sharks, it is also designed to stop the animals establishing territories where people use the water.
The department said there had not been a single fatal shark attack on a netted Sydney beach since the nets were introduced.
The nets occasionally catch marine animals, with official data for the 2012-2013 summer showing that more than 100 sharks became entangled in nets across New South Wales. Only three were great whites.
Contractors check the nets every 72 hours, weather permitting, and are required to free all live marine life found in the nets if it is practical and safe to do so.
Shark attacks in Sydney are rare, but deaths and injuries routinely occur around Australia.
In October two great whites were killed after a young surfer lost parts of both arms in an attack off the south coast of Western Australia.
The most recent fatality was in September when a man was killed in front of his wife while swimming at Byron Bay on the New South Wales east coast.
Comments
Comments are closed.