Miles backs net gain
WHALE rescue teams have become so successful saving humpback whales tangled in Gold Coast shark nets and beaches the state government says there is no reason to remove the barriers.
Sea World marine sciences director Trevor Long has consistently called for shark nets to be replaced with drum lines.
But at a joint whale rescue training session with Sea World and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection staff yesterday State Environment Minister Steven Miles said the nets should stay.
“A volunteer whale observer program is in place on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts to identify and report possible entanglements.”
With up to 27,000 humpback whales to migrate past Gold Coast this season, Mr Miles said only one whale had been killed by entanglement in more than a decade. He said he did not want to risk swimmer safety. There has not been a shark attack fatality off Gold Coast beaches since 1962.
Mr Long and his staff are continuing to pioneer methods of rescuing the marine mammals.
“Remember this has never been done anywhere else in the world,” Mr Long said while training 35 staff at Wavebreak Island yesterday.
He said Sea World had been developing the strategies, including using rope rated to 12 tonnes that snap before damaging a whale’s flippers, since 1992.
“This training is critical and we also have to make sure our team is safe,” Mr Long said. “A whale on the beach is a difficult and sensitive scenario. We have been successful in saving five of these large animals.”