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Sea Shepherd Supports Tourism Industry’s Call for Non-Lethal Shark Bite Mitigation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Monday, 04 Nov, 2019
Representatives from Tourism Whitsunday, Tourism Tropical North Queensland and the Queensland Tourism Industry Council are calling for the Queensland Government to implement a range of non-lethal shark bite mitigation systems in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) in an open letter sent to the Government.
This letter comes following the recent shark incident in the Whitsunday region of North Queensland.
The letter states that “the industry is keen to work with government to implement improved and innovative management tools that can achieve better outcomes.”
Sea shepherd supports the call from these representatives to implement non-lethal shark bite mitigation strategies.
“Sea Shepherd does not support any alteration to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act to allow lethal shark mitigation, as this is not only a waste of time when it comes to saving human lives, but could threaten the Great Barrier Reef standing as a World Heritage Area. This would be a disastrous outcome, especially for tourism which is a key driver for looking after our Australian icon."
Sea Shepherd Australia's Managing Director Jeff Hansen
Sea Shepherd is calling on the Queensland Government to not listen to media-driven fear and hysteria, but to listen to the tourism industry, to listen to science and to respect the findings of the recent Humane Society International (HSI) court case and senate enquiry into shark mitigation, calling for a rapid transition from lethal archaic shark control to smart non-lethal effective solutions, in a focused bid to save human lives.
Sea Shepherd is focused on a set of solutions that can be implemented in Queensland immediately and are in line with the Cardno report commissioned by the Department of Fisheries. These solutions would provide actual beach safety and other advantages that also mean a win for tourism.
"In 2019, anything other than rapidly rolling-out smart, innovative and scientifically backed non-lethal shark bite mitigation strategies is simply not good enough and as taxpayers, we should expect better."
Jeff Hansen