Great white shark pulled from nets at Bondi Beach

A dead 2.5m great white shark has been pulled from nets at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The male carcass was discovered during a routine patrol around 11:30am today, before it was taken by boat to the shore and hauled onto a platform.

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The NSW Department of Primary Industries confirmed the shark had been brought in to shore after being found around 500m from shore.

DPI staff will conduct an autopsy as a matter of practice.

The NSW shark meshing program has been in operation since 1937.

Contractors check nets at least every 72 hours and on average three times a week.

The department said the program protects around two million swimmers a year.

“The program protects around two million people who swim at these beaches each year,” a DPI spokeswoman said.

“The nets do not stretch from one end of a beach to the other. They are not designed to create a total barrier between bathers and sharks,” a DPI spokeswoman said.

“They are designed to deter sharks from establishing territories, thereby reducing the odds of a shark encounter.”

But Manly Sea Life Sanctuary senior aquarist Marty Garwood said the size of the shark suggested it was a juvenile and not more than a couple of years old.

"The east coast of Australia around Sydney and northern NSW is a known congregation site for juvenile great white sharks, and that's what this one is," Mr Garwood told AAP.

"It's quite unfortunate that it's a federally protected species that's been killed in a state-run program."

He also cautioned against calls for a cull of sharks, saying the incident does not mean there has been an increase in the overall great white population, and did not represent a greater risk for swimmers.

"We do see increased numbers during certain times of the year but they migrate away and the juveniles obviously don't pose as great a risk as the larger adults do on the west coast of Australia.

"It's definitely a very different situation between us and Western Australia."

"What we always say is it's safest for people to swim between the flags because the surf life savers will protect them from the much greater risk of drowning which by far eclipses any shark attack incidents in Australia."

Additional reporting by AAP.