Sharks in Sydney: Idiot ‘eco-warriors’ putting lives at risk by sabotaging next
EXCLUSIVE: Dumb greenies are putting lives at risk by vandalising the nets off our busiest beaches, leaving surfers and swimmers unprotected.
NSW
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DUMB so-called “ecowarriors” are putting lives at risk by sabotaging shark nets off Sydney’s busiest beaches, leaving surfers and swimmers unprotected from the man-eaters cruising our coast.
With NSW in the grip of a shark epidemic — including 22 grisly attacks since 2015 — stupid Greenies have vandalised a series of shark nets at Queenscliff, Bondi, Dee Why, Manly, Curl Curl and other popular Sydney beaches.
Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair slammed the mindless eco-vandals yesterday, saying: “Deliberate acts of malicious damage are not just dangerously foolish, they can attract sentences of up to five years jail under the Crimes Act.”
Labor frontbench MP Walt Secord demanded ever tougher punishments.
“These simple acts of vandalism have put thousands of families and tourists in harm’s way,” he said. “These cowards may try to describe themselves as ‘eco warriors’ but they are nothing but ‘eco cretins’.
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“If the government is considering tough measures to target these fools, I am on board and I will raise them with my shadow cabinet colleagues.”
The most recent vandalism happened in October, when the shark net at Queenscliff, north of Manly, was cut.
The Bondi shark net was slashed right down the middle last summer, leaving thousands of beachgoers vulnerable to a shark attack before it was fixed.
The government has only just revealed these mindless acts in its latest report on shark nets.
Other recent malicious damage includes the float lines being deliberately cut from the shark net at Dee Why. And a dolphin alarm attached to the Manly net — used to alert authorities when a mammal is caught — was torn off.
All up, NSW shark nets have been vandalised at least 20 times since 2010, with more damaged accidentally by boat propellers or anglers.
Former Manly mayor Jean Hay branded the vandalism a “disgrace, particularly when there has been a significant increase in shark sightings”.
It comes as more proof emerges that shark nets work — 133 deadly sharks were caught last summer — destroying Greens’ claims they don’t work.
There have also been four deadly sharks caught in the first month after shark nets were laid off the state’s north coast.
There have been no attacks since the north coast nets were laid, and there has been just one fatal attack at the 51 netted beaches between Newcastle and Wollongong since 1937.
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