Footage of five large rays which became tangled in shark nets in Australia has led to renewed debate about methods for protecting the nation’s beaches.

Just days after a parliamentary inquiry said shark nets were unsafe for marine life and should be scrapped, Sea Shepherd, the marine conservation group, released footage of rays caught in a net near Ballina, a town in eastern Australia where there has been a spate of recent attacks and sightings.

"To see the animals still alive and struggling to get out of the nets was really hard," Leigha Aitken, a diver and Sea Shepherd crew member, told The Northern Star newspaper.

"It's horrible. With the rays it's all through their wings, through their tails, all around their neck.”

The footage follows fresh debate about how to protect Australia’s beaches without unnecessarily harming marine life.