$4.175m invested in new Crocwise safety campaign
New technology to detect and deter estuarine crocodiles using a multi-beam sonar and physical Crocwise barriers will be developed under a new multimillion dollar safety campaign.
Cairns
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New technology to detect and deter estuarine crocodiles using a multi-beam sonar will be developed to reliably detect the aquatic predators under a new $4.175m croc safety campaign.
The new funding, expected to be allocated in the June budget, will be delivered over three years to support a range of Queensland Crocwise initiatives.
The cash commitment follows a spate of recent crocodile incidents including the fatal attack on Laura publican Kevin Darmody at the Lakefield National Park earlier this month.
A roundtable discussion led by Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon will go ahead in Cairns on Thursday.
Behavioural change experts will be hired to work alongside Indigenous organisations to address an ongoing failure of many croc attack victims to heed Crocwise messaging.
“In 2020, we established an independent expert committee to evaluate the crocodile management program in Queensland, including the results from the crocodile population monitoring program,” Ms Scanlon said.
“The committee found the program to be best practice, and highly effective in reducing the risks to public safety while conserving crocodile populations in the wild.
“But of course, with recent interactions it’s important that we make sure that we continue to deliver the best program possible.”
Funding will also be used to install small-scale physical Crocwise barriers to prevent crocodile attacks in high-risk areas, in partnership with local governments.
The “detect and deter” project involves the development of a device that can reliably detect estuarine crocodiles underwater (day or night) using multi-beam sonar and deep learning recognition artificial intelligence computer software.
The roundtable will discuss a Department of Environment-led enhanced Crocwise Strategy, Crocodile Management Plan consultation, research and monitoring of estuarine crocodile numbers and behaviour, and future initiatives.
Following the recent croc attack on Alister MacPhee and the death of Molly the dog at the Bloomfield River the Environmental Defenders Office has spearheaded a push to legislate against an emerging trend of social media users chasing notoriety on Tiktok and Instagram.
A large croc was shot following the attack at Bloomfield and two crocodiles were shot following the fatal attack on Kevin Darmody.
New funding worth $300,000 per year for ongoing Crocwise initiatives will be invested on top of the three year roll out of $4.175m.
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Originally published as $4.175m invested in new Crocwise safety campaign
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