Last week, a mother humpback whale and her calf became entangled in one of the many shark nets in the waters around Queensland, on the east coast of Australia. The pair was caught in shark nets off Rainbow Beach and then ended up dragging the net to Hervey Bay, the world’s first Whale Heritage Site.
Hervey Bay is meant to be a refuge for humpback whales during their annual migration, before the animals head south to feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean, during the austral summer. Thankfully, the pair survived, but the shark net dragged by a floundering whale into this sanctuary is a heartbreaking reminder that nowhere is really safe from the cruelties perpetuated by some human beings.
Shockingly, within days, it happened again—another mother whale and calf became entangled in shark nets off the coast of Noosa—a small coastal community only a short distance from Hervey Bay. This time, response teams worked in the darkness of night to free the whales, which was extremely dangerous for both the animals and rescuers. Once again, they succeeded, but the calf had only narrowly escaped drowning.
Footage shot from a drone showed the mother desperately trying to keep her calf alive.
And then, the unthinkable: only hours following the near drowning of the mother and calf at Noosa, a fifth whale became entangled in shark nets, at Marcoola Beach—only a stone’s throw to the south.
With TV news helicopters circling above, Australians watched on as a helpless calf struggled in nets, its family members nearby swimming circles in distress.
Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist with our Humane World for Animals Australia team, has pointed out that “while all five whales are now out of immediate danger, the struggle and precious energy expended during this traumatic event will jeopardize their ability to reach their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean this summer.”
Shark nets are fishing nets that are about 150 meters long, installed 500 meters off beaches along significant spans of Australian coastline. They are part of shark control programs run by New South Wales and Queensland—two state governments on the east coast of Australia—designed to entangle and kill sharks. But the nets do not prevent shark bite incidents. Instead, these deadly nets entangle and kill not only sharks but also dolphins, whales, turtles and other marine animals, including some species that are Critically Endangered. In 2024 alone, 1,641 animals were ensnared in nets and hooked on baited and anchored hooks called drumlines in Queensland. An additional 223 animals were caught in New South Wales shark nets during the 2024-2025 netting season. Well over half of these were not sharks, including 26 whales and dolphins, 50 sea turtles and 102 rays. More than 1,129 animals were killed.
In addition to this data on the indiscriminate and cruel impact of shark nets, there’s a similar wealth of scientific evidence that demonstrates their inefficacy in protecting swimmers. In recent years, a significant number of sharks caught at Australian beaches were caught between the nets and the beach, rather than on the ocean side. This indicates the sharks had avoided the nets when entering the area but were caught while attempting to leave.
Meanwhile, photographic evidence has introduced concerns around “depredation”—that dead and dying animals caught in nets actually attract larger (and more dangerous) sharks nearer to beaches.
Not only are these nets cruel, destructive and ineffective, there’s also a wide array of alternatives to shark nets available, including genuine shark barriers and enclosures for swimmers, drone and acoustic surveillance and monitoring programs, and simply employing better education and awareness about sharks.
Humane World for Animals Australia worked intensively to bring the story of these whale mothers and their calves to light. In the wake of these entanglements, I’m proud of our Australia team and its efforts to highlight this string of distressing events in Australian media, helping to raise awareness the cost of continuing the use of these shark nets.
The office of Humane World for Animals Australia is located very near to Avalon Beach, just to the north of Sydney, and at the right time of year our staff members there, when they step out for lunch, often see whales in the distance. “Right after sending out the first media release, our team needed a moment to reflect on what we’d just seen in Queensland and the confronting footage that emerged from it,” Sam Edmonds, director of communications for our Australia team, told me. “We took a short walk to the beach and were greeted by a small pod of whales breaching and diving. It felt like a small ‘thank you’ from them and was certainly a reminder of why we do this important work for animals.”
We’re calling on the Queensland and New South Wales Governments to remove these pointless and destructive shark nets and to stop pretending that they are an effective way to reduce the risk of shark bite.
There’s no excuse for continuing this backward practice. At a time when climate change, pollution and overfishing cause so many marine animal lives to hang in the balance, the continued use of shark nets is absurd. It’s time to nix the nets.
This vital work we do to protect marine life in Australia from destructive shark nets is part of our global program to foster human-wildlife coexistence and move away from lethal methods of control. In South Africa, our elephant immunocontraception program prevents the killing of elephant herds deemed a “nuisance.” In India, our team works to prevents the killing of snakes by helping rural communities avoid snake bites. Across the U.S., we support communities and agencies in practical strategies to safely share space with urban wildlife without resorting to traps, poisons or the gun. To create the humane world at the center of our vision, we’re actively promoting humane solutions so that we can all live in better harmony with the natural world.
