After the recent series of attacks and sightings, the NSW Government has reaffirmed its commitment to its shark netting program, despite an outcry from environmentalists about the danger the nets pose to other marine animals.

Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said there was no discussion of any modification to the beach meshing program, which is carried out across 51 beaches from Newcastle to Wollongong.

But he did not rule out the use of alternative deterrents, such as sonar and electric barriers, in future.

Nature Conservation Council of NSW executive director Cate Faehrmann said it was important not to let fear drive the continued netting of beaches when nets provided "a false sense of security".

"Sharks can easily swim over or around nets and about 40 per cent of sharks caught in nets are found on the beach side," she said.

"The chances of being attacked by sharks are low. Despite large increases in the Australian population, there have been just three fatal shark attacks in NSW since 1970, the last in 1993."

Ms Faehrmann said every year about four dolphins and three turtles became entangled and drowned in shark nets off NSW beaches. Meshing was also a major threat to harmless grey nurse sharks.

Associate professor Paul Adam, of the University of NSW school of biological, earth and environmental sciences, said of nets: "The big question is, are they necessary? There is a big confidence in shark meshing, even if the net is not there."

Ken Winkel, the director of Melbourne University's Australian venom research unit, said humans were still more likely to die from contact with horses, cows, dogs, bees and snakes. He said two to four deaths a year were due to snakes and about two to three a year from bee and wasp stings. This is compared with an average of one shark death a year, according to the International Shark Attack File.

"It's a sort of primal fear - of what's in the water that we can't see," Dr Winkel said.

A National Coroners Information System report looking at fatalities involving animals from 2000-06 found horses were by far the leading cause of human death, with a total of 40 deaths, followed by cows, with 20 deaths, and dogs, with 12. Shark attacks came fourth with 10 deaths but Dr Winkel said the figures were incomplete.

Hannah Mighall, a 13-year-old surfer attacked by a five-metre white pointer last Sunday at Binalong Bay, Tasmania, was released from hospital yesterday.

Her cousin, Syb Mundy, 33, saved her by punching the shark.

"It sort of just shocked me, I thought I was dreaming. I had to blink a few times and it just grabbed me," Hannah told the ABC.