Queensland scientists have used GPS technology to confirm that migrating dugongs swim close to the shore. Should shark nets be removed from their paths? James Cook University monitored 29 dugongs from Hervey Bay to Moreton Bay. Four that completed the 300-kilometre journey, three stayed close to the shore, within five kilometres of the coast.

Professor Marsh said the findings demonstrated why dugongs were so vulnerable to shark nets.

Thirty-nine dugongs were found drowned in shark nets in Queensland from 1989 to 2011. The problem had diminished however since the replacement of shark nets with drumlines at most locations in the Great Barrier Reef, and the opening of dugong protection areas from the 1990s onward.

The New South Wales Government is trialling the use of shark nets along Lighthouse Beach at Ballina, “We know the numbers are quite low and they are mainly there in summer, so I guess it depends on whether people in New South Wales want to continue having dugongs,” she said. “But with quite low numbers, even a low incident of human induced mortality is quite risky.”