dead dolphins vs dead sharks

[choppa]

an interesting read in todays sunshine coast daily re the issue of another dolphin being caught in a shark nets and dying off the coast at noosa national park,,,

this brings the tally to 13 dolphins caught in 2006 of the sunshine coast's 78 drum lines and 11 nets that stretch from bribie to noosa

a total of 84 sharks,,,,,,,including a four metre tiger and a 3.4 metre hammer head of point cartwright and noosa respectively

3 turtles,,,,and 1 whale,, were also bycatch,,,which is more ammunition for the conservationists

the nets were first intoduced in 1962 after the fatal maulings at noosa and mackay in 1961,,,and no fatalities have been reported since

during the FIRST 15 years,,,,, 468 dugongs,,2654 turtles,,317 dolphins and 10889 rays were also caught,,, numbers of which have steadily dropped since new initiatives were brought in back in 1992

new technology is advancing here,,,,,,,,,,

THE COUNT,,,,,NOOSA 2 dolphins,,2 turtles,, 24 shark WURTULLA 2 dolphins,,18 sharks COOLUM 2 dolphins,,9 sharks MAROOCHYDORE 3 dolphin,,3 sharks BRIBIE 1 dolphin CALOUNDRA 1 dolphin,,10 sharks ALEX HEADLAND 1 dolphin,,5 sharks SURFAIR 1dolphin MARCOOLA 9 sharks POINT CARTWRIGHT 1 shark,, YAROOMBA 1 shark BUDDINA 1 shark

a few whales have been ensnared of which have been successfully released,,, .

just dont tell PETA,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

choppa

[snakecatcher]

Interested read - I can't help but wonder whether the advances in technology are the sole reason why the bycatch is dropping off - I suspect part of the reason is that there are simply less dugongs, turtles etc. etc. around to be caught in the nets

[choppa]

electro magnetic devices are and have been implemented,,, and also a new barium impregnated shark net is on the drawing boards,,

but more to the point underwater acoustic devices have been the greatest impact on the tally of whales and dolphins declining numbers,,,,

back in the 1990's there were reportdly around 1000 migrating humpbacks that travelled through the netting area's,,,,now the reports have reported this number to be around 7000 and since the underwater pingers were implemented about 10 years ago the number of entanglements or deaths have reduced dramatically

dugongs????????????,,,,,yeh well i'm not sure either here,,,the passage still has a healthy population,,,but you don't see many out the front of bribie for instance as per 10 years ago???????????

choppa