Dugong found dead off Sydney beach
25-11-2009 The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
An adult female dugong has been found dead in shark nets off a Sydney beach, leading to calls for the netting to be removed across the state.
NSW Industry and Investment said the mammal, more common in northern waters, was retrieved off Coogee Beach on Wednesday by the boat that checks nets after being spotted by a member of the public on Tuesday.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said it was an adult female and it's death would be significant to the slow reproducing species.
The dugong has now been taken to Sydney's Taronga Zoo where an autopsy will be carried out to determined how it died.
Dugongs in "Mermaid Lagoon", Sydney Aquarium.
Greens MP Ian Cohen said the dugong had "drowned in the shark nets" and questioned why NSW persisted with netting beaches when it's doing more harm than good.
"The announcement of a rare visit by a dugong to Sydney's waters should be a happy occasion," Mr Cohen said.
"Dugongs were once thought by sailors to be mermaids.
"These gentle herbivorous giants are on the brink of extinction and it is heartbreaking to think that they ventured too close to foolish human activity and died," he said.
A spokesperson from NSW Industry and Investment said the shark net program was about "striking a balance" that helps "minimise the risk of shark attacks, while at the same time reducing impacts on the environment."
But Mr Cohen said shark nets were even failing to provide adequate protection to swimmers, saying two shark attacks on NSW beaches last year occurred on meshed beaches.
He said shark nets killed 1,485 marine animals between 1995 and 2004.
A Scientific Committee Report in 2003 also found at least six categories of vulnerable marine species were being caught in shark nets each year.
(Bron: http://news.smh.com.au/)
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