Cid Harbour shark attack: Are the lives of fish more important than human?

‘BLOOD on their hands’: It could be the words that come back to haunt Fisheries Minister Mark Furner when he explained why drum lines had been removed from Cid Harbour after the first two attacks. Now a tourist is dead.

HAS the Palaszczuk government got blood on its hands?

A deadly shark attack in the Whitsundays suggests something is terribly wrong with the State Government shark control program.

There are nets and drum lines on 85 beaches and islands from Cairns to Coolangatta – but none at Cid Harbour where the latest tragedy occurred.

A man in his 30s was torn apart while swimming at sundown in the heart of Queensland’s tourism playground.

It beggars belief that drum lines placed in the harbour after earlier attacks - believed to be from savage tiger sharks - were removed.

And the Member for Whitsundays, Jason Costigan, wants to know why.

“It is well known there are more sharks than ever before,” he said.

“So we need to ask: What went wrong?”

He wonders whether green protests about nets and drum lines indiscriminately killing other sea creatures has blurred the safety program.

“The government is beholden to a very powerful green lobby and it has questions to answer.” And he is right.

Have the lives of fish, dugongs and turtles been put ahead of human lives?

Six tiger sharks were removed from Cid Harbour with drum lines following the first two attacks.

There is nothing more enjoyable than a bracing plunge into the surf off this great state, and swimmers should be allowed to do so without the fear of losing a leg.

However a report in the Whitsunday Times on September 27 was illuminating.

Queensland Fisheries authorities deal with tiger sharks after separate attacks on a woman and a young girl in the Whitsundays. Photo: 9 News

It quoted Fisheries Minister Mark Furner as saying that drum lines had been removed after six sharks had been removed.

He said: “By removing these large sharks we have made the area safer and the publicity around our actions has certainly made everyone more conscious of their own wellbeing in those waters.”

Those words may come back to haunt him.

The third shark attack victim in Cid Harbour is taken by rescue chopper. Photo : Daryl Wright