Jeff, do you mean to tell me that there are SHARKS off our beach, in the actual OCEAN – ACTUAL SHARKS ??!! Come off it –sharks live in the ocean – get used to it! Everyone who can possibly gain any advantage here is trying to do so. Stories in the media about fisherman who claim that MORE fishing will solve the problem (What’s that?!?, fisherman saying they want to catch more and therefore make more money…who would have thought!!??). And guess what? Michael Brown, the guy who runs the company that is paid to do aerial patrol of beaches says that its more aerial patrols that will help!! And there is no surprise that the company that is contracted to manage the nets has called for an increase in net use!! SURPRISE – everyone wants to do what benefits themselves – regardless of any evidence! Even the media is in on the trick – The likelyhood of being attacked by a shark is so minuscule that it should barely get a mention in the media, yet you guys are all over it like a fat kid on cake! - nothing to do with the fact that ‘shark attack’ is one of the top three searches on media websites by any chance!?!?! Statistics indicate that shark numbers continue to fall – even the catch numbers from nets support this. According to the Department of Primary Industries, the catch of sharks each year has dropped in the last decade from 142 to 57. Off the Gold Coast in the same period, according to Queensland Government figures, catch numbers have dropped from 71 to 31. Most sensible people, CSIRO included, are saying that the current spate of attacks has more to do with weather and conditions than anything! Weather this summer in Sydney has followed an odd pattern. November, December and most of January passed almost without a sign of the variable winds, sudden heavy rainfalls, and northerly wind upwellings often seen in the period. Then in late January and early February, hot weather and howling northerlies brought on a serious upwelling event, with chilly water and a lot of nutrients surging to the surface. Just days afterward came a week of easterly winds and heavy rainfall, flushing the big rivers, clouding the water and pushing all kinds of sea life toward the coast. Baitfish and schools of larger feeders were everywhere. More people get killed in Australia each year from bees and lightning strikes than shark attacks – so I’m guessing we are going to have BEE NETS all over the hunter soon??? and then we can ban storms as well!! Shark nets are about as useful as a foreign correspondent in China! Yet I, for one, have NEVER been killed by a shark!

It really depends on the Australian. I'd think about nominating the writer of this blog as shark food. Although I feel that shark nets are generally a good idea, where do we get off thinking we have total dominion over the sea and everthing in it? I would have thought we've progressed past the point of needing to kill everything that poses a threat our existence by now. Your writing is unjustifiably opinionated, you seem like the type to not look on the other side of any argument that's not your own. Perhaps you could work on that and write something worthwhile from time to time.

As demonstrated recently, the greenie do gooders come crawling out of their inner city comfort zones each time there is a mass stranding of whales or dolphins - an act of nature - call the media to record their heroics, drape the beasts in wet towels and pat each other on the back whilst crying about the injustice of it all. Why don't they come out each night and attempt to alleviate the suffering of thousands of Australian street kids who have no food, shelter or protection ? They clearly care more about media recognition and their own ego's, than they do about any other human beings.

The only good animals are the ones we breed and eat, kill all the rest and use them as fertilizer to feed more cows for us to eat I say. God made man in his form, all the rest of the animals in this world are just there for us to enjoy.

Get your facts right Jeff. White sharks have been protected for 10yrs after being hunted to low numbers and have a birth rate so low that in the 10yrs since they have been protected they would never have increased their numbers to the so called explosion of numbers reported. Calling for a cull is extreme. Still more dangerous driving to and from the beach in your car than going in the water!

Jeff you like caravans so i thought why not incorporate vans into this picture. lets float caravans on pontoons and the working girls from iso can be relocated to work in the floating vans. this will solve the iso problem and when they have free time between customers they can act as shark alerts. we could also incorporate some on the job training for the girls so that they could maybe work towards a cert 3 in ocean management, life saving or some other marine related activity so that by the time they leave the van they are retrained and can take up some other profession. i believe that this approach works on so many levels. alternately we could use our useless politicians in the role of human canaries. they could also be retrained while on shark duty so that they have the skills to take up some honest work on their return to shore.

Jeff I thought the answer was obvious from a previous blog! What about the great unwashed and tattooed? At least shopping on holidays would be safer.

Firstly Jeff i do believe the Greens are pushing your bike tracks and roads in every council within Australia, they work for you. Sharks are scary, monsters who shread you, that is why you and every other tin pot writer on newspapers are out scoring points. King Idiot, is not so stupid he hits the mark very well. You ask me if there is an Australian life not worth a whale, i would say there is thousands worth sacrificing to save a whale, child molestors and rapists come to mind on the worst front. On the other, i would blow a hole in a Japanese whaling ship any day of the week. As for sharks, i don't swim or kayak on dusk or dawn. This is an informed choice, i don't expect sharks to be killed to put my mind at ease. All those who are contected to the ocean, surfers, lifesavers, kayakers or divers never want sharks killed. It seems to be land loving bike riders with the problem. As for the danger, i know from statistics that you and fellow caravaners will proberly cause more deaths in Australia than sharks, snakes, spiders and vending machines combined.

like Buell i don't kayak at dawn or dusk. This is mainly because i don't own a kayak. As for Aussie lives worth sacrificing to save a dolphin or a baby whale, i nominate Georgie Parker. She drives me mental, and is an obnoxious, talentless git.

Fista: You nominate Georgie Parker, who would be worthy shark fodder. For me it would have to be Julia Zemira - even less talented and the unfunniest "comedian it has been my misfortune to watch. As a surfer (well not very much these days) I'm quite happy to take my chances with the sharks, but Lady Sportif has quite an aversion to them especially bull sharks. However, it doesn't stop her paddling out with me occasionally.