TIM eMagazine Vol.3 Issue 12
Shocking
new imagery
of sharks
hooked on
Queensland
Government
drum lines
Credit: HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan
H
umane Society International (HSI) and
the Australian Marine Conservation
Society (AMCS) today release graphic new
footage and photographs of the true cost of
Queensland’s Shark Control Program in the
Great Barrier Reef.
The images were obtained this month at
lethal drumlines set off the coast of Magnetic
Island in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Pictured are two ensnared tiger sharks and
a bull shark, hooked and left to slowly die. Enough is enough,
and HSI and AMCS call for the immediate removal of the lethal
drumlines in the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.
Nicola Beynon, Head of Campaigns at Humane Society
International, said: “Culling sharks is cruel and illogical, and we are
frustrated that it is still happening in the Great Barrier Reef. These
images show the intense suffering inflicted on marine animals by
this outdated practice. Not only does the Queensland Government
insist on slaughtering sharks, but it has recently passed legislation
making it illegal to document the horror. The public has a right to
see true cost of its Shark Control Program.”
The Queensland Government’s Fisheries Amendment Bill 2018
outlaws being within 20 metres of shark control equipment on
the grounds of “public safety” with fines of up to $26,110. This
legislation will come into effect in a matter of weeks.
Dr Leonardo Guida, Senior Shark Campaigner at Australian Marine
Conservation Society, said: “Tiger sharks are the most frequently
caught shark in the Queensland Shark Control Program, and their
numbers have dropped by up to three quarters in Queensland
waters1. Only last week the first official Australian Shark Report Card
was released and that told us that tiger shark numbers will keep
dropping unless we make major improvements to the way they are
managed. If not, they could soon vanish entirely from Queensland
waters. The Government should not be sanctioning culling of a
species in such perilous decline.”
According to QLD Department of Fisheries statistics, nearly 9,000
tiger sharks have been caught in the Queensland Shark Control
Program since 19852.
Humane Society International is currently engaged in legal action
against the QLD Government and the Great Barrier Reef Marine
Park Authority for shark culling on lethal drumlines within the
World Heritage-listed reef. The case concluded in the Administrative
Appeals Tribunal in February and the Tribunal’s decision will be
made in the coming months.
In the case evidence was heard that if sharks were no longer
killed in the Queensland Shark Control Program it would make no
difference to the risk of a shark bite.
www.marineconservation.
org.au/
Credit: HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan
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