SOME 4,000 sea creatures have been caught in shark nets lining NSW beaches alone over the past 20 years, new government figures reveal, prompting calls from environmentalists to immediately ban the meshing.

Of the official count of 3944 creatures trapped, about 60 per cent were sharks and less than 4 per cent were considered ”target” species (or those particularly harmful to humans).

The haul – as recorded in the Department of Primary Industries’ Report into the NSW Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program – included a total of 2521 sharks.

Among them were 15 grey nurses, a harmless… Continue reading →

Our weather, life, energy balances, nutrition and the survival of all life on this planet are functions of the existence and health of our oceans. What we as people do to those oceans determines the future of all life as we know it. Consider these:

• The plastic “continent” – drifting plastic bags and waste collected together in the northern Pacific Ocean is about twice the size of Australia!
• Plankton is the basis of the world’s food chain
• In the plastic “continent”, plastic outweighs plankton by 6 to 1!
• Overfishing, pollution from fish farming, ghost fishing and shark netting are just… Continue reading →