By JOLENE OGLE
Queensland Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause said shark nets and drum lines were strategically placed to reduce the possibility of shark attack for swimmers.
“Human safety must come first, and that’s why the government is committed to the shark control program,” he said.
“The nets are not in place to indiscriminately cull sharks, rather they are specifically designed to catch resident sharks to reduce the number of potentially dangerous sharks in particular areas.”
Mr Krause said the shark control program was effective in reducing the overall number of sharks in the area, making it a safer place to swim.
“Since the start of the program in 1962, there has been one shark fatality at a shark control beach in Queensland,” he said.
Mr Krause said sharks are a natural part of the marine environment, but there are ways you can avoid encounters such as swimming and surfing at patrolled beaches and between the flags, leaving the water if a shark is sighted, and not swimming at dusk or near mouths of estuaries, artificial canals and lakes.
