Psillakis was surfing with his mates when he suffered catastrophic injuries from a shark attack at Long Reef Beach in Dee Why on Saturday, just days after shark nets were reinstalled at 51 beaches from Newcastle to Wollongong.

The state government had planned to remove shark nets at three spots in the Northern Beaches – which cover Dee Why, Waverley and Central Coast councils – this summer to trial the effectiveness.

Premier Chris Minns had said he would pause the trial until the Department of Primary Industries handed down its report on what happened.

“We believe the right thing to do is to wait for the investigation to come back about how this happened, what happened and the circumstances surrounding it,” he said on Sunday.

“We want to make sure that we have the information in front of us before we take that kind of decision, and I’m not going to make any decision before that report is back to the NSW government.”

But Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty today confirmed the trial would be scrapped ahead of the report.

“In light of the tragedy that has occurred at Dee Why on the weekend, we need to be sensible about what the community would accept at this time,” she said.

“We need to allow time for the Department and our government scientists to collect information on what happened and then provide a report to government that will inform future considerations for the shark management program.”

Dee Why beaches have 150-metre-long, six-metre-deep shark nets installed about 500 metres from the shore.

The shark nets have been subject to controversy, with animal and environmental groups arguing that other marine life, including endangered species, are also being captured and killed in the nets. 

According to NSW Department of Primary Industries data, almost 90 per cent of species caught in shark nets in the 2024-25 summer were not sharks and 67 per cent were killed.

Four dolphins, seven threatened turtles and four critically endangered grey nurse sharks were among those killed.

“Shark nets are dangerous not only because they create a false sense of security but because the dead and dying animals caught in them serve to attract large sharks to the beach,” Humane World for Animals marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said.