By Hollie Harris
A deceased dolphin was discovered on Wednesday in the shark nets off Noosa’s Main Beach.
The sub-adult member of a local pod of bottle nose dolphins was found floating belly up entangled in the nets by a local man out in Laguna Bay.
Sea Shepherd’s Apex Harmony Queensland co-ordinator Jonathan Clark questions the Queensland Shark Control Program.
“This makes very hollow, the words of Queensland’s shark control manager who often reports that Queensland’s Shark Control Program nets have pingers to protect whales and dolphins. Eleven whales were reported tangled in Gold and Sunshine Coast nets last year and now this dolphin, which says that is completely misleading,” Mr Clark said.
“This entanglement has occurred just as the humpback whale migration begins to bring these magnificent creatures close to this very net. These Noosa nets are responsible for the ensnarement of a whale last year,” he said.
Nets deployed at northern NSW beaches after a string of shark attacks were pulled up due to increased sightings of migrating humpbacks in the region.
Apex co-ordinator Allyson Jennings said they wanted visitors and locals to see these animals swimming free not “fighting for their life wrapped in a shark net”.
Sea Shepherd calls on the Queensland Government once again to remove shark nets during whale migration season.
“Queensland tourism derives huge benefit from marine wildlife including dolphins, whales, turtles and rays that are continuously caught in these nets that provide a mere false sense of security,” Mr Clark said.
Whales will pass through the region in large numbers as part of their annual migration from the Antarctic to areas around the Great Barrier Reef, including Hervey Bay all the way to the tip of Cape York.
