Minister snaps at croc cull supporters
SOME MORE INTERESTED IN HEADLINES THAN SAFETY: MILES
ENVIRONMENT Minister Steven Miles has snapped back at supporters of culling crocodiles, labelling them “irresponsible.”
The minister, who was in Cairns yesterday to launch the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection’s new $150,000 crocodile patrol boat, said politicians who wanted to cull the animals were more interested in generating headlines than public safety.
“If their priority was public safety, then they’d listen to the experts who tell us a cull, would not just be bad for the crocodile species, but it would be bad for public safety,” he said.
“It would give the public a false sense of security.”
The new stealth boat, nicknamed “Blackberry”, is painted jet-black to reduce light reflection and visibility from the water.
Mr Miles said it would improve the effectiveness of crocodile patrols, allowing wildlife officers to get as close as possible to the animals at night without spooking them.
“We know that we need to learn a lot more about what’s going on with Queensland’s crocodile population and, with this boat, we’ll be able to do more to get into hard-to-reach areas to track crocodiles from (Cairns) right up through the Cape,” he said.
Blackberry was custom built by Hammerhead Marine and Fabrication in Townsville and built from the ground up to cover a wide range of tasks in coastal streams, estuaries and open waters.
The sturdy boat includes a self-draining deck to help keep the work area clean and drain away any wayward swell that may come over the sides and the vessel and storm covers designed so crew can stay safely under cover.
Michael Joyce, the department’s northern wildlife manager, said Blackberry would join the fleet’s seven vessels used for marine and estuarine operations.
“We are very excited to have this boat in our toolkit for crocodile management,” he said. “My officers work really hard and sometimes in really trying conditions.”
The Palaszczuk Government has committed $5.8 million over the next three years for croc management, including $2.7 million for a threeyear crocodile survey and monitoring program.
EHP wildlife officers will conduct trials and reconnaissance surveys in the Far North as part of the crocodile management program, starting next month.
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