DUGONG POACHING Feds hit on wild meats inaction

A WILDLIFE warrior who has been campaigning for nearly a decade to protect dugongs and sea turtles from poachers has accused the Federal Government of turning a blind eye to the practice.

The Australian Crime Intelligence Commission’s investigation into the extent of illegal poaching and trade of turtle in the Far North cost $2 million and two years to complete.

Funded under the Federal Government’s Reef 2050 Plan, ACIC’s Wildlife and Environmental Crime Team was established in early 2014, and launched “Project Skywatch” and “Project Corktree” to collect intelligence about the alleged organised illegal trade in turtle and dugong meat, and disrupt those suspected of being involved.

Investigators visited 23 indigenous communities, 20 regional towns, and conducted 227 meetings with various stakeholders between July 1, 2014 and January 31, 2016.

They produced 39 “tactical intelligence products” (dossiers), 15 of which related directly to the illegal turtle and dugong trade.

However, the key finding of the investigation was the poaching and the illegal sale of meat throughout Queensland and the Torres Strait indigenous communities was “almost certainly minimal and usually opportunistic, but the full extent is unknown.”

Cairns-based wildlife activist Colin Riddell, who was interviewed by the investigators, questioned this finding.

“If the full extent is unknown, how did they conclude it was minimal?” he said. “‘No substantive evidence’ is a term used to hide the fact that they did not really look for it.”

It has been long feared that quantities of dugong and sea turtle poached in Queensland waters have been sold on the black market, with rumours of eskies full of meat regularly flown in and out of Cairns Airport.

In 2012, another wildlife campaigner, Rupert Imhoff, filmed evidence of dugongs and sea turtles being cruelly slaughtered in the Torres Strait for the illegal meat trade.

The footage was aired on the ABC’s 7.30 Report, exposing the so-called black market, alleging that one hunter made as much as $80,000 a year.

Mr Riddell claimed the extent of illegal hunting in the Torres Strait was far more widespread than being acknowledged by ACIC.

“They (ACIC) got the outcome they wanted, and had a two year junket on the Environment Minister,” he said. CQUNIVERSITY is hosting an information session at its Cairns campus today for Year 12 graduates about university course options.

The university will host a change of preference online chat session from 8am-12pm for graduates whose OP results may not be as hoped. Register for the session, and the online chat session, at cqu.edu.au