Here recently there has been a "News" article surfacing the social media platforms. Back in 2016 there was a recorded shark bite on another species of shark in Australia. The sharks in question were a 3 meter and a 6 meter White shark. For those who are not familiar with meters, 3 meters converts to 9 feet and 6 meters converts to roughly 19 feet. Keep those numbers in mind.

Australia has a rich Ocean Eco system, with a large array of shark species. Of that array, the White Shark reigns supreme and is one of the most common species of sharks along side the Tiger shark. So there should be no surprise of a White shark encounter in Australia, right? In this "news" article it seemed that people were very shocked and shaken that the fact a 3 meter shark was bitten by a 6 meter shark. Now again, 6 meters (19ft) is fairly average when it comes to the length of an Adult Female White shark. Female white sharks can grow anywhere from 4 meters (15ft) to 6 meters (19ft~) slightly larger than the average male white shark. So why would anyone be shocked hearing there was an average sized juvenile white shark and an average sized full grown female white shark swimming in their backyards?

The article mentioned, "The state government says that the shark nets and drum lines are here to stay after this incident. The nets have previously been a problem due to young whales getting caught but for now the nets will remain to ensure safety of beachgoers. After seeing that shark, we can’t imagine that anyone would want to go swimming for awhile!" January 12th, 2018, Dive uploaded an article called "NSW Shark Nets Catch Endangered Species, Not 'Target' Sharks."

The article posted by Dive went into detail on what shark nets do and the terrible affects these nets have on all the sea life. There were nets placed out several times in the waters in Australia, each time they were out the "New South Wales Department for Primary Industries" took a data and population count on the ocean life. I wont go over the entire list but will list off a few and link the article.

During these net tests several species were documented, one of which was the "Common Blacktip Shark." The "number alive" percentage at the start of the net trial was 0%, during and after the net trial the "number dead" percentage was 12% and of course the "percentage survival" was 0%. Looking at the Cownose Ray population 57% was the "number alive", 24% was the "number dead" and the percentage survival was 70%. So not all species too a hit, but most of them did. I'd recommend taking a look at the entire table and see the drastic numbers of the terrible affects of these nets. http://divemagazine.co.uk/eco/7940-australian-shark-nets-kill-endangered-species

The Australia Government claims that these nets are keeping the people safe. But at what cost? We're losing these species that we need to keep alive at a ridiculous rate. We lost up to 50-100 million sharks a year due to shark finning, we don't need to add onto that number with these nets. We're killing off these rare and endangered species with these nets. We are literally killing our primary life support system with these nets. Something has to be done. I want to try an reach out to as many people as we possibly can and send this petition to the Australian Government to get these nets taken out of the water.

If you could take the time to sign and share this petition so we can do some good in this world, that would be so very appreciated.