TIME SHOWS NETS WORK

TRUE to form, a militant green group is calling for shark nets to be removed from Gold Coast and Queensland beaches.

Sea Shepherd Australia spokesman and Queensland Apex Harmony Campaign co-ordinator Jonathan Clark says the nets and drum lines are an inappropriate, archaic way of dealing with man-eaters. He claims it is pure chance a life has not been lost on the Gold Coast since the state’s beach protection program was introduced in 1962.

Mr Clark also wants independent spotters on State Government-contracted boats because he doesn’t trust them to accurately record wildlife caught in nets.

“They’re the protected species,” he says of contractors. “There’s no scrutiny in Queensland at all.

“The (Queensland Government) data is highly debatable because they don’t have that openness about it.”

In response, the State Government has no intention of removing shark nets or drum lines, or scaling back the program. And rightly so.

As reported by this newspaper many times previously, the program is not designed to decrease the shark population — it’s designed to protect the human population.

Marine animal rescue teams have helped limit the number of non-targeted animals caught in the shark nets. Shark numbers are not dwindling. They are not on the endangered species list.

The Gold Coast’s famed beaches and surf breaks lure millions of locals and tourists every year and the most effective measures available must be deployed to protect them.

The Gold Coast City Council and Gold Coast Tourism have quite rightly endorsed the continued use of nets and drum lines along our coastline as part of a raft of measures that have so far proved highly effective.

The real priority has to be human safety. In weighing this matter, it is the responsibility of the city and Government to put the lives of swimmers and surfers ahead of all other concerns. If nets were removed and a fatality occurred, the ensuing uproar would echo around the world.

Never mind the continuing danger posed by sharks. Never mind the damage to one of Australia’s most crucial tourism economies. The streets would be empty.

One only has to look to northern NSW where multiple shark attacks, including two fatalities, ravaged the region’s lifeblood — tourism — driving away visitors in their droves. Some may not have even wanted to venture into the water, but perception is key.

Slow-thinking NSW politicians had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a drum line trial at Ballina.

Guess what? There has not been a shark attack since they were installed.

While it is hoped emerging technology, including sonar warning systems, will eventually replace the need for nets, until any such initiatives can be proven to be fully effective, the nets must stay.

There’s a reason why there’s never been a fatal attack on a Gold Coast beach with shark control equipment in use.

Because they work.