Last Thursday night a baby humpback whale was fighting for its life, trying to free itself from a shark net in Noosa’s Laguna Bay, and raising the ire of conservationists calling for new technology to replace the nets.
Koala rescue team member Bernard Jean became aware of the trapped whale thrashing about under the watch of its stressed but helpless mother in the evening but rescuers were unable to attend in the dark and the young mammal remained caught until it was freed about 8.30am on Friday.
It was the second time in a week a migrating whale calf was caught in shark nets on the Sunshine Coast with an earlier entrapment at Mooloolaba where the mammal was freed more quickly.
“How many more times will beautiful marine lives will be sacrificed under the watch of the responsible Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, which is still to decide the best way to replace shark nets with a marine life safe management program,“ Bernard asked.
“I understand that due to poor education of the public about the total lack of efficiency of these nets and drum lines we could still be just a bit under the majority of people wanting them removed.
“But I can assure you that between all the wildlife agencies which care about our marine life, we are doing our best to educate a majority of people about it and we’ll end up having them removed.“
Queensland Koala Crusaders ambassador Meghan Halverson described the situation as “a disgrace“.
“They say when we know better, we do better but I am not holding faith in that statement when continued destruction of our precious wildlife continues to be the truth,“ she said.
Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation hosted a Marine Species Protection Symposium in 2021 with an objective to develop a preferred trial of shark control measures.
On its website NBRF states: “following the release (in 2019) of the Queensland Shark Control Program: A review of alternative approaches (the Cardno Report), the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is conducting trials of non-lethal shark mitigation technologies across the State.
The State Government’s Queensland shark management plan 2021 to 2025 states its aims are “to reduce the risk of shark bites in Queensland coastal waters by:
“• Maintaining nets and drumlines at beaches while continually improving operations to minimise the impact on the environment.
“• Supporting research to understand how to reduce the risk of shark bites.
“• Undertaking trials of alternative shark bite mitigation technologies to determine their suitability for Queensland conditions.
“• Educating people to be SharkSmart every time they are on or in the water“.
A petition launched on change.org calling for a stop to whale entanglement and the replacement of shark nets with alternate means has garnered more than 140,000 signatures.
