Jayne Jenkins found the sandy floor of Chowder Bay on Sydney Harbour a mess of fishing lines, hooks and ray carcass, last Saturday morning.
Fins had been chopped from two bull rays, the diver told Guardian Australia. One had a big split across its head – Jenkins identified it as Stumpy, a well known ray that had its tail chopped off in previous years.
“The eyes of the rays were still open,” the diver said. “It was just horrendous.”
A New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesperson confirmed the department was investigating a report from a diver that a bull ray had been killed at the diving spot in Clifton Gardens on Sydney’s north shore.
“Recreational fishers are allowed to catch [rays] in areas not protected by a closure or by Marine Protected Area rules, using approved methods and gear,” they said.
There is a combined bag limit of five rays in NSW.
Jenkins suspects the killing of the two rays happened last Friday night. A friend sent her a message that night saying: “this is what we found”.
“I had to see it for my own eyes to believe it,” Jenkins said. The next morning, she went for a dive.
“It was one of the spookiest dives I’ve ever done.
“There was not a single fisherman on the pier, which is unbelievable … The water was so flat, and that is very rare.
“But then to see [the rays] and how they have been butchered so barbarically is unbelievable.”
Jenkins isn’t the only diver incensed at the killing.
James Weaire posted to a Friends of Chowder Bay Facebook page: “Sad report from a night dive yesterday at Chowder Bay. Massive bull ray hacked to pieces by fishermen.”
“Recently, I had the incredible joy of diving with this beautiful animal, heart breaking to see what humans can do,” he said.
“Chowder Bay is a site so incredibly diverse with life, not to mention home to the world’s biggest release of seahorses! It’s about time NSW Fisheries make this a no-take Marine Park.”
Jenkins, with other divers, created the Friends of Chowder Bay Facebook group “to try and protect the area, to pick up all the rubbish”.
“We’ve been diving with the rays for at least 15 years,” she said.
“It is really, really sad. It is such a beautiful area … Rays come up on the jetties, they are a tourist attraction, people feed them. They are just so harmless.
“It is barbaric fishing. It just needs to be stopped.”
