Providing community support after traumatic incidents

Between 2013-2016, a series of shark-human interactions occurred on the coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, that led to a number of surfer fatalities. This situation triggered significant community concern, attracting international media attention and calls for shark culling.

In 2015, the NSW Government commissioned an independent review, led by Cardno, an environmental consulting services company, to investigate new and emerging technologies to mitigate shark-human interactions. This review was followed by a stakeholder summit held at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and included shark experts from across the globe, to determine the technologies to be trialled in NSW waters. This led the NSW Government to develop the NSW Shark Management Strategy (SMS), 2015-2020.

Prior to the Shark Management Strategy (SMS), the NSW Government responded to serious and fatal shark incidents solely in accordance with its Shark Incident Response Plan, whereby the focus was to catch and euthanise the shark thought responsible for the incident. The SMS, however, saw a shift to catch, tag and release sharks from the area of the incident. It also provided an opportunity to focus more on the human part of the shark-human interaction through research and the establishment of a dedicated community and stakeholder engagement team, and a process by which that team could support those affected by shark incidents. This case study will focus on the development of the community engagement team and the process that takes place after a serious or fatal shark incident in NSW.

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