The Whales are Coming
With whales already spotted off the Queensland coast, the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) has stepped up preparations for this year’s migration season.
Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries Tim Mulherin said that due to the ever increasing population of whales travelling along Queensland’s coastline it was inevitable that some would become entangled in shark control equipment.
“DPI&F have a range of measures in place to ensure whale entanglements are infrequent, and that those animals which are caught have the best possible chance of being freed quickly and unharmed,” Mr Mulherin said.
“For example, pingers have been fitted to all shark nets from Mackay south (the migration route does not usually take whales any further north than Mackay) to help in deterring whales from coming too close to the equipment during this migration season.
“Should a whale become entangled, DPI&F have highly-trained Marine Animal Release Teams which can respond.
“In general, entanglements occur later in the season around September when young inexperienced whales are on their way back from the northern breeding waters.
“One of the keys to successfully freeing an entangled animal is early notification,” Mr Mulherin said.
“The sooner we are notified, the sooner the Marine Animal Release Teams can be on the scene to assist the animal. To this end, we would encourage the public to report suspected entanglements to the DPI&F Shark Hotline on 1800 806 891.
