SHARK NETS’ BIG CATCH
Call to maintain defences as FNQ drumlines trap 47 in a year
A CALL to protect locals and tourists in Far North waters has been issued after it was revealed 47 sharks were caught off Cairns beaches in a 12-month period.
Surf Lifesaving Queensland regional manager Rob Davidson and opposition environment spokesman David Crisafulli want Cairns’ 40 drumlines maintained.
ALMOST 50 sharks were caught off Cairns beaches in a 12-month period, igniting debate in the Far North over management of the ocean predators.
Twenty-five of the 47 captured were more than 2m long and seven were tiger sharks measuring more than 3m, according to 2017 Shark Control Catch Statistics.
State tourism, environment, science and the Great Barrier Reef opposition spokesman David Crisafulli said the fig- ures were staggering and the Government’s decision to rule out the use of drumlines or nets after the death of Daniel Christidis and two other recent attacks in the Whitsundays was “foolish”.
Last year, the Senate Environment Committee Shark Report by the Greens with a majority of Labor members recommended that the Queensland Government immediately replace drumlines and phase out shark meshing programs.
Surf Lifesaving Queensland North Queensland regional manager Rob Davidson has also spoken out calling for the Far North’s 40 drumlines to be maintained.
“We’re happy with the current measures. We are primarily concerned with creating a safe area for people to bathe in the sea,” he said. “We would like to see drumlines remain.”
Mr Davidson’s statements come after a suspected shovelnose shark was spotted swimming inside the stinger nets at Mission Beach at the weekend.
Mr Crisafulli said shark mitigation was an ongoing state government responsibility.
“I think there is a movement among some of the more hard line environmentalists to put some pressure on the Government to remove them and I want to resist that,” he said.
“We need to keep looking at the best way to do this. For more than a century, politicians from both sides have kept shark mitigation strategies in place. To walk away from this now would be utterly foolish.”
The State Government last week committed to an ongoing safety education program and the introduction of a SharkWISE system, similar to the CrocWISE initiative operating in Far North Queensland.
“All the experts agree that education is the key – that’s why, as a direct result of today’s roundtable, we’ve committed to a ‘SharkWISE’ campaign to educate people about the risks of swimming in some locations,” Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said.