Queensland’s Shark Control Program
15.5 foot Tiger Shark caught in Queensland’s Shark Control Program
Surfers’ relief as monster tiger shark caught off Yaroomba
By Peter Hall, The Courier-Mail,January 11, 2013
A MONSTER tiger shark that has been spooking surfers on the Sunshine Coast has been caught a few hundred metres from shore.
The 4.72m giant was reeled in from a drumline off Yaroomba near Coolum Beach.
Shark catcher Paddy Dimond, doing his rounds yesterday morning as part of the State Government’s Shark Control Program, said it was the largest shark he had caught in the region in his five years in the job.
Mr Dimond and deckhand Lachlan Tuckwell could not drag the 500kg-plus creature aboard.
He said the pregnant female was believed to be the same shark that had sent boardriders racing to shore after recent sightings. “This is the biggest shark I’ve seen up here. It is probably the one local surfers have been talking about.”
The tiger was destroyed, measured and dragged 5km offshore. As guidelines dictate, it had its stomach contents examined, revealing several baby sharks.
Fisheries Queensland’s Shark Control Program manager Jeff Krause said it reaffirmed the need for drumlines and netting.
Source: couriermail.com.au
UPDATE 12. January 2013
Photo credit goes to Glenn Barnes
15.5 foot Tiger Shark caught in Queensland’s Shark Control Program
15.5 foot Tiger Shark caught in Queensland’s Shark Control Program
This is a disgrace. How can we accuse the Japanese for whaling when Australian governments are killing sharks? It is no different. Given the technology and intel we have available, it is barbaric that the only policy solution that governments can come up with is to kill the sharks, destorying our already damaged marine ecosystem in the process.
People call sharks monsters and yet we kill them because we are afraid they might hurt someone? The sharks own the sea. They were here before us.
Why do people think they have the right to kill them for no good reason at all!?
I love all animals but this shark has scared enough surfers in our area I am glad it’s been destroyed and anyone who says otherwise does not swim here and should look into the facts before they speak. The QLD Shark Control Program only remove sharks that are a threat.