North coast surfers say they know shark risks, forget barriers

Friends of Ballina surfer Tadashi Nakahara, who died in a shark attack last year, have railed against shark barriers.

Surfers Cooper Allen, left, and Romain Decelle at Ballina’s Lighthouse Beach. Picture: Jason O'Brien

Friends of Ballina surfer Tadashi Nakahara, who was killed in a shark attack last year, have joined in railing against the installation of shark barriers at two northern NSW beaches

Surfer Romain Decelle, 37, regularly surfed with Nakahara, whose death was one of several attacks that prompted the NSW government’s $16 million shark protection strategy.

Mr Decelle yesterday urged the government to scrap its plans to install a shark barrier at Lighthouse Beach, the scene of two ­serious attacks last year.

He said he did not think the barriers would protect surfers from great whites but would ­impact on their ability to enjoy the popular break.

“It’s bonkers. It’s a waste of money. I don’t understand why they are doing it. Nothing can protect us,” he said.

“Tadashi was a good friend of ours. We are ready to pay the price. It’s the ocean. I don’t think it (the barriers) are going to stay. It’s not going to work.”

Fellow surfer Cooper Allen, 17, said he too believed the barriers were a waste of money.

“We still go out there without the net, at our own choice. I don’t think there is any need for it.”

Le-Ba Boardriders spokesman Mark Hernage said he was growing increasingly frustrated that the concerns of surfers were not being taken on board.

He said that included the safety concerns surfers had raised about the barrier, including the risk surfers could end up being pinned under it.

Mr Hernage said the NSW Department of Primary Industries had acknowledged there was an injury risk to surfers but the barrier was still going ahead.

Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said the concerns of stakeholders were being taken on board and the barriers would be reviewed “after three months in the water”.

Work to install a shark barrier at Lennox Head was under way yesterday, with conditions favouring the installation. Further south at Lighthouse Beach, however, Craig Moss of Eco Shark Barrier said he believed underwater work may not resume there for at least another week, depending on conditions.

He was optimistic it would be completed by August and said he believed surfers would still be able to surf the break once it was installed.

Multiple sharks including great whites have been detected off northern NSW beaches in the past week, including two off Clarkes Beach at Byron Bay, where Paul Wilcox was fatally ­attacked in 2014.

Further north, a fishing charter operator was taken to hospital after he was bitten on the leg by a reef shark off the Southport Spit on the Gold Coast yesterday.

Scott van Burck, 31, had been about 20km off the shore line with eight customers when a reef shark was caught and brought onto his charter boat.

His mother, Tiana van Burck, said he was still walking but felt dizzy after being bitten just before 1pm.

“They caught a reef shark (and) when they brought it on board, it flipped the wrong way and it got him on the leg,” Ms van Burck said. “So they released it straight away, took care of the ­injuries to Scott and called me.”