Shark Net Protest at Quicksilver Pro Surfing comp Coolangatta

Members of north coast marine conservation groups will converge on the Quicksilver Pro Surfing competition at Coolangatta at midday Qld time, (1 pm NSW time) on Wednesday the 14th of March to hold up banners asking for the removal of Shark Nets.

Co-ordinator of the protest, Dean Jefferys, from the Migaloo 2 marine conservation Foundation said “The Quicksilver Pro Surfing competition is the obvious place to hold a Shark Net protest as many surfers are concerned both about being safe while surfing and also wanting to live in harmony with other marine creatures. Snapper Rocks is flanked by a string of shark nets that have killed hundreds of marine creatures since their placement.”

Jefferys said “I believe surfers are being called to be the guardians of the ocean and its creatures. Its hard to understand that there are some surfers who still believe the shark nets are a good thing and the deaths of 1000s of marine creatures justifies their fear of sharks. The yellow bouys you see behind the line up at Snapper Rocks are shark nets that go for around 150 meters along the surface in a straight line and 4 meters down. Sharks can just swim under or around them yet they still manage to catch and kill many dolphins, turtles, rays, whales, and endangered sharks. We want to raise the issue about the ineffectiveness of the current shark net program and offer more effective and non lethal alternatives to help prevent humans having an unwanted shark encounter. Since 1950 there have been over 16,500 marine creatures killed in these shark nets in NSW and QLD, over 5000 of them endangered or critical endangered. Shark nets do not offer the safety from sharks they profess and actually may make a shark encounter more likely as they give a false sense of security. Cheaper and more effective alternative technologies currently exist that make the public safer without increasing the dangers to other marine life. They include, the Spotters Program, Personal repellents, Sonar, Shark tagging, Education and the use of drones for spotting. Drones have recently been deployed by NSW, SLSC with great effect and Queensland Government should follow and give a drone to every surf club. This would be a lot safer for surfers than shark nets as the drones not only provide realtime observation and warning, they also double as a quick response unit to help prevent drownings by dropping a floatation device from the drone as demonstrated in a successful rescue at Lennox Head a few months ago.”

To contact Dean Jefferys for comment call 0467485903 and see www.migaloo2.com or talk to us by the main surfers building at Snapper Rocks Coolangatta on the day around midday. Also see and use footage of Dean Jefferys swimming under the shark nets at Lennox Head. Drop box https://www.dropbox.com/s/95cliifoadlv76g/clips%20sharks%20comp.mov?dl=0