A marine conservationist has called for non-lethal alternatives rather than controversial shark nets to protect swimmers on the NSW north coast.
The NSW government has announced it will deploy shark nets for a second time at Ballina, Lennox Head and Evans Head beaches in a bid to protect swimmers from sharks.
The new trial will include larger mesh nets to reduce the numbers of by-catch such as turtles, dolphins and manta rays getting caught up in the nets.
"It can be difficult to get the balance right, but I hope these modifications reduce entanglements of non-target species this summer," Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement on Thursday.
After reviewing the first trial which ended in June, the NSW government made further modifications including moving the nets closer to the surface of the water.
But marine conservationist Dean Jefferys said the nets don't work and would still catch other marine life and non-lethal alternatives such as drone technology were better.
"People think the nets are a barrier but really they only go about 150 metres across or five metres down and sharks can swim around or under," he told AAP.
"Let's put real solutions in and not rely on these out-dated nets that clearly don't work."
In a bid to demonstrate their ineffectiveness, Mr Jeffreys will be paddling out and under a net at Lennox Head on Saturday.
"A picture says a thousand words, I'll be swimming under nets with a GoPro to show what sharks can do and then there will be pressure for departments to look for a safe alternative," he said.
He'll be joined by a rally of anti-shark net protesters.
Greens MP Justin Field also doesn't believe the modified nets will work saying they are "floating death traps".
"It would have to be extraordinary large mesh to not catch what's been caught in them before," Mr Field told AAP on Thursday.
"Last year it proved they were much more destructive than anything."
The first six-month trial caught nine target sharks and 266 non-target species including dolphins, turtles and one threatened species of shark, NSW government data shows.
In the same period, SMART drumlines caught 36 target sharks from a total of 39 animals.
Mr Field urged the government to use SMART drumlines over the "outdated" shark nets.
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