BY ISABEL EVERTT
A Lake Macquarie Councillor has put forward a plan to introduce shark netting at the Toronto Baths.
Councillor Jason Pauling says it would ease the minds of swimmers, with many community members saying they and their children would use the baths more if they felt safer from shark attacks.
"So right or wrong there is a fear of shark attacks in the lake. I think that everyone understands the risk is very very low, but the fear of shark attack is very very real," Cr Pauling says.
The initiative would following the netting of the Belmont Baths, which were officially re-opened to the public in December 2018.
A community feedback report on netting there is due to be reviewed by Council in November.
There are often concerns that shark nets act as a "death trap" for other marine life, however Cr Pauling that's not as true as it has been in the past.
"The nets we used at Belmont Baths are substantially kinder to the environment. That's not to say they're fool proof but they are vastly improved."
The nets introduced at Belmont are a generic type of netting used at ocean baths across the country made of nylon.
The holes are designed to be wide enough for marine life such as seals and fish to swim through, while protecting swimmers from sharks.
"It's a fairly small area that is netted relative to the Lake, and I'm not aware of any significant environmental impacts in terms of the Belmont Baths in their nearly two years of operation. That's not to say it hasn't happened, by no one has raised any issues with me," Cr Pauling says.
University of Newcastle Professor, and Marine Ecologist, Dr Vincent Raoult says fixed and permanent shark nets often used at ocean baths, are designed to keep animals out rather than catching and killing them like nets more commonly found at beaches.
"In general these nets have a lower environmental impact because they're too stiff to catch things, and quite often over time they become what we call enfouled, so stuff ends up growing on them and they become habitats for species like sea horses," Professor Raoult says.
Cr Pauling said the proposal to introduce the netting at Toronto sparked some of the fiercest debate among Councillors he had ever seen, particularly around when to proceed with the project.
"A big issue was around delay, and that was one of my primary objections with the Belmont Baths."
"No where else in the Lake could get the protection of a shark barrier. It took a year to work up the plans, a year to build, and two years of evaluation, so I say its time to look at other a baths and look at netting on the Western side of the lake."
"The Toronto Baths is an obvious location for an additional netted bathing area given the existing infrastructure. Certainly Council has learnt lessons in relation to consultation, particularly with the Toronto Community, so that's why I've moved this now, and it can be tied in with the Toronto Foreshore development."
Council agreed to progress with a decision following further community consultation and the review of a community feedback report on the use of shark netting at the Belmont Baths.
Lake Macquarie Councillor Jason Pauling
