Cairns beaches drum lines removed from the water

All Shark Control Program equipment from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park including 40 drum lines from Ellis to Holloways Beaches have been removed from the water.

All Cairns beaches drum lines were removed from the water in the wake of a Federal Court ruling this week. Picture: Humane Society International.

• Push to list tiger shark as ‘endangered
• 47 sharks caught off Cairns beaches

ALL Shark Control Program equipment from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, including 40 drum lines from Ellis to Holloways beaches, have been removed from the water.

The Government was forced to remove all nets and drum lines after a federal court upheld a claim from a conservation group the control program was unlawful.

In April, the State Government appealed the ruling made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in favour of Humane Society International but the Federal Court on Wednesday ruled that the AAT was within its authority to bring an end to lethal culling.

Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said he had written to Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley “strongly urging” the return of drum lines to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

“There is no time to waste here. We need to get this equipment back in the water as soon as possible,” Mr Furner said.

In a joint statement, Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said “drum lines and other techniques had been used for decades and they have saved lives”.

Originally published as Cairns beaches drum lines removed from the water