School of 15 hammerhead sharks shut down Home and Away’s Palm Beach in Sydney

 

Palm Beach has seen its fair share of drama during its three-decade tenure as the set of Home and Away but this time it was life imitating art after the popular beach was closed when sharks were spotted metres from the flags.

The iconic Sydney beach where Channel 7’s Home and Away is filmed was closed after a school of up to 15 hammerhead sharks was sighted just metres away from swimmers between the flags.

The shark alarm was sounded about 1:00pm at Palm Beach and those in the water were urged to get out of the water.

Lifeguards scrambled to close the beach and jumped onto jet skis to patrol the water to ensure no one was injured, according to a Northern Beaches Council spokesperson.

The sharks were up to two feet long.

To discourage swimmers from entering the sea, the beach was shut down for almost an hour and the flags were taken down.

After the sharks went, the lifeguards reopened the beach.

Hammerhead sharks have been observed numerous times in Palm Beach, with one shark being seen there just a week ago.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society website states that no hammerhead shark-related deaths have ever been reported in Australia.

In NSW waters, there are three different hammerhead shark species: scalloped hammerheads, smooth hammerheads, and big hammerheads. The majority of these sharks are regarded to be non-aggressive.

The incident has reignited discussion about the usage of shark nets in NSW; some claim that sightings shouldn’t raise concerns.

Between Palm Beach and Manly, there are 15 shark nets on the Northern Beaches.

One individual posted on social media, “Shark nets merely tangle up other sea life, with all the modern drones that the beach patrols have these days they can monitor the sharks,” in reference to the use of shark nets.

“Who would have guessed, sharks being sharks in their own environment?” one more said.

An organization dedicated to ending the use of shark nets, Nets Out Now, claims that mesh nets provide people a “false sense of security” while harming the surrounding ecosystem.

In April 2021, the Northern Beaches Council voted to gradually pull off the divisive netting from its beaches.

But in September 2021, the NSW Department of Primary Industries announced its commitment to a new shark control program, doubling spending to more than $21 million.

At the time, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall remarked that there was “no panacea” for defending beachgoers against sharks.

He declared, “The NSW Government will now run the largest shark management program in the world, seeking to strike the correct balance between keeping swimmers and surfers safe and safeguarding our marine species.

“While we assess the effectiveness of the expanded technology-led solutions,” the statement reads, “we will also continue the deployment of shark nets as part of the Shark Meshing Program in the Greater Sydney Region.”