4m Tiger Shark Caught on Drum Lines of Cairns

It is sad to see that as hard as we are working to protect these animals, even the "good guys" are increasing their efforts to kill them.

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Jaws: A tiger shark cruises the ribbon reefs, north of Port Douglas. Image supplied by Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

A TIGER shark measuring more than 4m has been caught at Trinity Beach as new figures show a spike in sharks caught in nets and drumlines off Cairns.

Seventy-one sharks, including 29 tiger sharks, were snared in Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries nets and drum lines between July 2007 and June 2008.

The nets and baited lines are 500m offshore at beaches including Clifton, Trinity, Ellis and Holloways, Palm Cove and Buchan Point.

The catch included a 4.2m tiger shark snagged at Trinity Beach on June 28.

"It'd be over 250kg," Shark Catch Program manager Tony Ham told The Cairns Post.

"That was a big shark."

Mr Ham said tiger sharks were among the ocean's most dangerous predators, but the risk of attack was low.

"You do need to exercise some caution about when and where you swim," he said.

The catch is a 40 per cent increase on the 51 sharks caught in 2006-07.

"It's a big year for rain up there," Mr Ham said.

"They get a lot of murky water after heavy rain, so they move around looking for food and there's a far greater chance of finding them in the inshore after heavy rain."

Mr Ham warned swimmers, wind and kitesurfers to avoid waters near shark catch equipment, where metres of chain and net up to 180m long could snare the unwary as well as sharks.

"Sharks in drum lines don't always die quickly so it might pose a danger," he said. "They tend to be a bit aggressive when they're caught."

"They tend to be a bit aggressive when they're caught."

What a wolly....err..... that's a response you get from any animal trapped.

The Jelly fish over there are allot more dangerous but I suppose no one looks tuff Killing a Jelly.

Hi Wags,

I'm with you, and I'm nearly sick of banging my head against a brick wall...

But what is the answer mate?

You live in Oz, how do we educate the dickheads that keep getting elected to parliment?

I'm sure that the leaders look at their 'teams' and says "you're the biggest dickhead in the team, you're the new environment minister!"

Fair dinkum, look at that c#+k head Garrett, he couldn't sing to save himself and now he is Rudd's puppet...

Bruce...

Hey we could swap politicians - Nah maybe not - you may all be (ex) convicts but you don't deserve that

Looks as though I will be in your neck of the woods towards the end of the year Bruce.

Paul C

Looks as though I will be in your neck of the woods towards the end of the year Bruce.

 

Paul C

Hey Big Paulie,

Ring me bell big fella...always someone around...

Bruce...

Well in view of the alternative of killing every shark for the sake of sunbathing tourism, I'd say the drums are doing a decent if ugly job of appeasing the general public of their fear of sharks. No amount of PR work by anyone will remove fear of the shark in the general public's eye. You think a few flicks about free divers holding onto big sharks will change anything? It's education from the ground up and hope there'll be sharks around to survive this exploitation presently going on.

Imagine what would happen if sharks were responsible for widespread tourism unemployment on the QLD coast.You think their survival will be on the top of any QLDer's list then?

Exactly right, what politician would pull up the shark nets??? If something happens and someone is bitten then there would be a public outcry. And with idiots like Vic Hislop telling everyone that 'the only good shark is a dead shark' it doesn't help the situation.

As Drew says there is a great deal of money in the QLD tourism and tourists like the nets.... they make them feel safe and at the end of the day $$$$$ have the power.

I am sure that there are better solutions to protecting beaches than shark nets but those projects will need a great deal of money to win over the public perception.

"They tend to be a bit aggressive when they're caught."

I do love that comment... what a plonker!

Well Cape Town pulled up nets and the place is loaded with surfers and great whites. I for one am not willing to say it is hopeless. It is much harder though if the folks who know better and actually care consider it too hopeless to try.

Errr have you tried swimming in Capetown Shawn? 11-13°C? How many bathers do you think there are in those waters? The surfers, spearos and fishermen all complain about the gansbaai, false bay and mosselbaai shark baiting industry. Does that stop it? No because the sharks bring in more money than surfers and South Africa has more marine reserve parks than any other country in the world. You can't have it both ways. Shark bait diving is cool in the Bahamas and brings in the tourist dollar. So they are somewhat protected. Qld has a huge tourism industry that doesn't want a lot more people like to swim with their kids without thinking about Spielberg's curse. Not everyone wants to see a Tiger Shark baited and swimming up close. The drums (which are more discriminant in the prey selection than nets) are generally replacing nets (the big ocean killer) in many areas. Yes it targets the big sharks but the little ones have a chance to get big. They are semi protected that way.

Drew. I was born and raised in Durban South Africa. The country is terrified of sharks. Shark nets "kept us all safe" was he party line. Removing shark nets regardless of how cold the water is was a big, big deal. Educating folks that spotters were actually more effective than the false security of nets is how this got done. This has nothing to do with baiting sharks or shark tourism and you digress. This has everything to do with working to educate the public that sharks play a crucial role in the ecosystem and that there are more effective and environmentally sensitive ways to safeguard the public. Lions have received extensive protection and they are far more dangerous than sharks. It can be done but takes a lot are persistence and commitment.

Well no shawn it's not digression but a simple fact of life. Simple economics. The removal of the nets in the Western Cape didn't affect the beach bathing population that much and the main prey caught was the protected great white (as well as the huge bycatch of cetaceans,mammals and turtles etc). Also remember the waters around False Bay (in places like Fish Hoek etc) is rougher and colder than KZN. Only a few beaches in the area could nets be effective and bathers bother to swim in. There isn't that much impact on the lives of the beach goers either way. Drumlines don't work as well on great whites since they move a lot more than tigers and bulls. So they switched to spotters as a logical step. In fact, the sharks board was the one who suggested spotting. On the side, there is also a movement to shut down the cage diving in False Bay and Gansbaai, due to the association theory, but the money earning tourism industry in Gansbaai and the lack of proof of that theory has so far prevented that.

Turn over to KZN where the beaches are more placid and water much warmer due to the Agulhas and geographic location. You also have more species of big sharks like spinners, blacktip, bronzies, bull and of course the tigers. All these sharks can be residential or at least coastal. Of course the history of shark attacks from the 50s to the 70s rings very real to the KZN population. The now defunct whaling industry was majorly responsible with the off flow of blood, but that is cold comfort with the main population grown up on fear of the shark.

The huge tourism industry on the entire coast of KZN is a significant part of the state's income and of course voting population. Fears or not, bathers want to know they can swim without fear, a component of any holiday. Of course they accept the security risk of travelling to KZN but hey that's controllable risk right?

The point is, the nets provide if anything mental protection AND statistically brought shark attacks to zero (despite studies showing sharks were INSIDE the net etc). Spotters in this area would mean beach closures, which is probably unacceptable to many business owners (thus voter base). The shark tourism on Aliwal is miniscule and operated in the MPA anyhow. You don't think if the nets/drumlines are removed and there's an attack, the same voices that accuse the Gansbaai industry won't come after them? I'm surprised you who have said shark diving industries protect sharks because they have an economic value would say it's digression in the discussion here. Despite the high bycatch rate of sharks by the nets, at least the main population of sharks are still left alone, which is protection as well. And the people get their beach time and perceived protection.

About the lion analogy. All the lions are now behind high electric fences in South Africa. It also brings in A LOT of tourism dollars. So why not protect it? You think anyone won't shoot the stray lion in the streets of Umhlanga?

he he...this has become the Drew and Shawn show I am interested to see where other folks stand. Drew of course raises some important and relevant issues. I for one still will persist in pushing the right thing regardless of irrational and entrenched public perceptions. If it weren't for folks persisting in the face of such odds, practices such as slavery in developed world would still be common and acceptable practice.

"They tend to be a bit aggressive when they're caught."

Caught this one a few years ago about 15 miles due east from this latest episode - it didn't seem to mind at all

I have visited / dived this location consistently over the last 25 years and have observed an increase in Tiger numbers rather than a decline.

This location is less than 5 miles from reefs that get inundated with tourists who are snorkeling ( prey at surface ) and diving every day that we rarely have shark ( any shark ) sighting at - how do you explain that ?

Please excuse the quality of the photo - it was quickly scanned from a print that has sat in the bottom a box for long time and is showing it's age.

Please excuse the quality of the photo - it was quickly scanned from a print that has sat in the bottom a box for long time and is showing it's age.

Please excuse my presumption, but I took a shot at fixing your image in photoshop ... it can be dramatically improved color-wise ...

he he...this has become the Drew and Shawn show I am interested to see where other folks stand. Drew of course raises some important and relevant issues. I for one still will persist in pushing the right thing regardless of irrational and entrenched public perceptions. If it weren't for folks persisting in the face of such odds, practices such as slavery in developed world would still be common and acceptable practice.

I feel all "shark nets" should be tossed. How does a net stop a great white? If a great white wants to get around or go through a net, it will. I think that may even be the case with tigers too. Nets get holes in them all the time and have to be repaired... ask any commercial fisherman. What happens if there is an attack of some sort when a net is in disrepair? or even if the net is brand new? Just useless, and then what of the politician(s)?

I like the jellyfish comment, being someone who grows jellyfish for a living. I watch the animal planet shows on box jellyfish in Australia and relate it to this. I laugh whenever I see those jelly nets out to protect like 10m of beach so people can swim. Isn't easier to find a swimming pool of the same size in Australia? or just go somewhere where there have been no known box jelly stings? The bottom line is, you can't protect people from everything in the ocean with a net. I think in the show they ended up catching several box jellies inside their very own exclusion net.

It all boils down to education about the ocean, that we need more of obviously. I think monitoring the ocean(also something we need more of) is the best way to inform/educate the public about the risks they take going into it.

Seems like a perfectly acceptable alternate response from a politician asked about why they don't support shark nets would be "I believe we should do a better job of educating the public about marine life so that people can make safe decisions about where they play in the ocean" And they could point out that you can also drown in the ocean, again jellyfish too small to catch that can kill you, salt crocs could eat you, birds could bite you or poop on you, tsunamis... :-) Silly!

-Wyatt

Whyatt,

I really liked your feedback. I agree completely.

Shawn

Wagsy might be able to back me up on this one.

If you draw a line straight across Australia from the GBR, you eventually come across Ningaloo.

If you have a look at the 'beasties' that call Ningaloo home, you will find all the same 'terrible' killers in residence over there also. Funny thing is that you can seaqrch day and night and you will never find beaches netted or drum lined.

This area is becomming more and more popular with tourists and no-one is trying to close beaches because of jelly fish or crocodiles etc...They just put up signs when the danger is present and if you a stupid enough to go in and get yourself stung or bitten then it's a matter of "told you so!"

This area is well known for its big animal encounters and the locals know the value of the dollars that these animals bring in...enough said!

Bruce...