<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/28/crisafulli-insists-on-more-shark-nets-to-protect-human-lives-despite-trapped-mother-and-baby-whale>
"Queensland’s premier said the state is “not for turning” on its plan to expand
shark netting, and won’t put protecting whales “at the expense of one single
human”.
A mother and baby humpback were discovered trapped in shark netting near
Rainbow Beach on Saturday, the eighth and ninth whales to become entangled in
nine days.
Queensland’s premier, David Crisafulli, announced an expansion of the program
in May.
A KPMG report on the state’s shark control program had recommended the state
government trial removing shark nets during whale migration season from April
to October, as is done in New South Wales.
But on Sunday Crisafulli said he was “not for turning” on the plan, and that
the government had already announced its response to the KPMG report.
He said the state government would do “all we can to protect environmental
lives as well”.
“We will do everything we can to be good environmental stewards, but it’s not
going to come at the expense of one single human. We just won’t, and I’m not
for turning on that,” Crisafulli said.
Queensland is one of three jurisdictions in the world to use shark nets. The
state also employs drum lines, which bait sharks on to a baited hook.
The NSW government recently paused a rollback of its shark net program after a
fatal shark attack in Sydney.
Crisafulli said the state would be rolling out more protection for swimmers
“and we’ll do it as environmentally sensibly as we can but, but the life of one
child on one beach anywhere in this state, is worth everything to me”.
According to Humane World for Animals, about five in six animals trapped in
Queensland’s shark nets are not target shark species.
There have been 131 whales, 298 turtles and 327 dolphins trapped in them since
2001."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
