IT IS an image that is as chilling as it is poignant.
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For months many in the Port's fishing and tourism industries have been calling for a ban on witches' hat crab nets, believed to be responsible for at least 10 turtle deaths a year.
Now the unmistakable proof is here - a dead sea turtle trapped in a net at the popular Pipeline dive site in Nelson Bay.
Emma Challen, a professional diver with Lets Go Adventures, said the disturbing image was captured by one of her divers last Thursday.
"Judging by its size it was probably a young adult and we believe it had been trapped for a day or more," Ms Challen said.
"This is a truly senseless death ... the impact these nets have on the tourism industry is just devastating and it is not just turtles which are dying.
"We are not calling for a blanket ban on crab netting, just the wide-mouthed and witches' hat varieties." Ms Challen said the diver managed to cut the netting away but the turtle was already dead and just floated to the surface.
"People come from all over the world to dive Pipeline ... it is home to a number of juvenile sea turtles and other marine life." Calls for the immediate ban of both the witches' hat and wide-mouthed variety of crab nets have been backed by Port Stephens Eco Network, Port Stephens Council and John 'Stinker' Clark, who described the image as "very disturbing".
"It sends a clear message to those irresponsible recreational fishers who continue to use witches hats, which have been banned in other states and waterways." The Pipeline, located at the end of Teramby Road, and is considered one of the Port's top dive sites.