By JOLENE OGLE
PHOTOS of a three-metre long Tiger shark floating lifelessly from a drum line have sparked community outrage, with calls to remove baited lines.
Noosa local, Bronte Wooton, took the snaps last Tuesday, while spearfishing off Castaways Beach.
Since posting the photos on Facebook, Mr Wooton has received numerous messages of outrage and disgust at the practice, from the local community.
Mr Wooton has called for the lines to be removed, labelling drum lines as an “inhumane” way to kill an animal, describing the scene as depressing and sad.
“You just see the shark and there is nothing you can do,” he said.
“They are just waiting to die.
“Everything would be the same without the drum lines.”
University of Queensland Professor Mike Bennett, who specialises in the study of sharks and rays along Queensland’s coast, agrees with Mr Wooton, saying the lines have “zero effect”.
“The point I would make about the drum lines off Noosa is that their catch rate is not high, considering how many sharks there are around,” he said.
According to the Queensland Shark Control Program, there are 26 drum lines in use along the coast from Noosa to just south of Yaroomba, with two shark nets located off Noosa Main Beach and one located off Coolum beach.
Within the three months from 1 January to 31 March, 10 sharks were reported as caught on either drum lines or within nets.
Prof Bennett, who studied the catch rates of drum lines and nets, said a plethora of misconceptions surround sharks and the fishing devices used to bait and kill them.
“A lot of people consider that the nets are there to keep the sharks away from the beach, but it’s not the fact,” he said.
“The fact is the nets are actively fishing and trying to catch sharks. So that’s why they’re set. They’re not to keep things out.
“In fact, most of the sharks caught in the shark nets are on the beach side of the net. In other words, they’re already closer to the beach and they seem to be caught when they’re swimming away.”
Prof Bennet said the drum lines effectively suffocated the shark as they became fatigued from continuously swimming in circles as they are hooked to the drum line.
“Sharks need to continuously pass water over their gills and the only way to do that is to swim, so if those species are caught on a drum line the ability for them to swim in a leisurely way is reduced,” he said.
“You can add to that, it is bound to be stressful to the animal in some way because it is being restrained against its wishes.”
Prof Bennett said historically, the lines and nets were put in place to try and catch sharks that could potentially cause a risk to humans swimming in the water, but Prof Bennett said the chance of a shark attack was extremely rare.
“(For an attack to occur) you need a shark in the water, presumably either seeking food or it might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be surprised or spooked by a human,” he said.
“Invariably, there will be interactions between humans and sharks. Very rarely so though, considering the numbers of sharks and the numbers of humans in the water at any given time.”
The Taronga Conservation Society Australia’s Annual Shark Attack File reported two unprovoked shark encounters in Queensland in 2012, with a total of 14 encounters recorded nationally.
Of the 14 cases, two were fatal, 10 resulted in injuries and in two cases there were no injuries to humans.
It all comes down to politics, according to Prof Bennett.
“It is a political risk removing lines and nets. Woe betide the politician who makes the decision to remove drum lines or nets and then a week later somebody has an interaction with a shark,” he said.
“That interaction may well have happened … if the nets had remained in place but the public perception will not always take that view.”
Prof Bennett maintains it is “an extremely rare occurrence for a negative reaction between a human and a shark to occur, extremely rare”.
“The common call is that sharks are under much greater threat from humans than humans are from sharks.”
