Overnight national celebrity Fluffy’s great escape could soon become all-too-common fatality as killer shark-nets lurk off the coast

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson thanks the volunteers and professionals who helped save the juvenile great white shark "Fluffy" at Manly and warns that Fluffy may fall foul of the NSW shark nets upon release. 

Senator Whish-Wilson said, "Well done and thanks to the community and volunteers from the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary who helped save a protected stranded juvenile great white shark nicknamed “Fluffy” on Manly beach yesterday.

“Within 24 hours of Fluffy being put in the aquarium rock pool she has become a national celebrity, with locals and tourists flocking to get pictures and watch volunteers swimming and interacting with the shark.

“This is a great opportunity to raise awareness and educate people about great white sharks, which are too often labelled by sensationalist media outlets as being simply ‘gruesome killers’.

“It is also an important opportunity to recognise that Manly’s shark nets, reported to be put back in the ocean nearly two weeks ago, don’t always act as barriers to sharks, contrary to popular myth.

“Shark nets are designed to kill marine life and to reduce population levels of sharks. They were never meant to be an effective barrier to sharks or shark bites.

“While national celebrity Fluffy is due to be released soon it is possible she will be killed shortly after her release, entangled in a shark net just off Manly beach. This is despite the fact that she is a protected species under federal environmental laws.

“Sadly this is the fate of thousands of other protected marine creatures such as turtles, dolphins, and whales,” he concluded.