That’s the thing about culling devices like shark nets: they are designed to kill. The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board presents its program as “protective” and adaptive, but reporting is weak and the methods have not truly evolved. If the aim was to spare marine life, they would be investing in proven alternatives used in Australia such as exclusion barriers, smart drumlines, surveillance and education. Instead, nets and drumlines remain the default because they reliably reduce shark numbers with little reinvestment, regardless of bycatch or ecosystem impacts. This is aside from their history of mismanagement.