Media Release 2-8-2017
Migaloo 2 Skipper to swim under Shark Nets off Mooloolaba.
Marine conservation yacht Migaloo 2 will visit Mooloolaba on Thursday on its Whale Migration Tour raising awareness on important issues like Shark nets and different forms of pollution. Migaloo 2 is sailing from Byron Bay to the Great Barrier Reef and return over the next three months. In Mooloolaba, Skipper of Migaloo 2, Dean Jefferys, will be meeting up with people from different Marine conservation groups to discuss conservation strategies and inspect and swim under the Shark nets off Mooloolaba. Leah Hays and other members of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, along with Tony Isacson and other divers will be meeting at the public wharf near the Fishermans Co-op in Mooloolaba spit at 10 am Thursday 3rd. There will be photo opportunities with banners and Migaloo 2 in the back ground. A limited amount of Media are also invited onboard Migaloo 2 to inspect the Shark nets up close and shoot video or take pictures of people with banners on floating craft around the nets and Dean Jefferys swimming under the Shark net. (photos and video will be made available to media after the event)
Dean Jefferys is also a drone operator with “Shark Watch” in the Byron region where a 6 month Shark net trial has just finished early due to the beginning of the Humpback whale migration.
Dean Jefferys said “I was happy that the Byron/Ballina shark net trial finished early to avoid the possible entanglement and death of any of the 30,000 humpback whales that migrate along these shores, yet I am very disappointed with Queensland’s position that they keep the shark nets in all year around. 126 whales have been entangled in Queensland’s shark nets over the last 50 years compared to NSWs 9. Many off these whales have drowned a terrible death in these nets. Just 2 weeks ago a humpback whale calf tangled up in a shark net off the Gold Coast. The mother also got tangled possibly trying desperately to free her baby from the Shark nets. The baby eventually drown and the mother was cut loose, I would suggest, devastated. Queensland needs to catch up with NSW and then overtake them by removing these ineffective, lethal Shark nets completely, asap. There are many more effective non lethal alternatives to Shark Nets, like Drone surveillance, Tagging, Smart bouys, Shark Shields, Spotters, and shark smart awareness programs. One point for swimming under the nets is to show what sharks do and how ineffective the nets are at keeping sharks away from swimming areas. Shark nets in Queensland only go down 6 meters and are around 186 meters long, in a straight line”
For more information on Migaloo 2 see www.migaloo2.com or call Dean Jefferys 0467485903 for interviews or pictures of the event. Or call Tony Isacson on 0402345207