‘Nowhere safe anymore’: Outdated Crocwise strategy under scrutiny
Long overdue Queensland crocodile management plans will soon be updated for the first time in five years amid fresh calls for all large crocs to be removed from some swim spots in the Far North.
Cairns
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Long overdue Queensland crocodile management plans will soon be updated for the first time in five years amid fresh calls for all large crocs to be removed from the upper reaches of the Mulgrave River.
Maps currently guiding saltwater croc management drawn up in 2018 have come under strong criticism for not keeping pace with croc population increases, new semirural housing development around Cairns and tourism use of Far North rivers.
In August Jawajawa Rangers patrolling an area upstream of the Fisheries Crossing bridge on the Mulgrave River reported sighting a 3-4m saltwater crocodile sunning itself on the river bank to the horror of river users and anger of traditional owners.
Cairns Adventure Group operates white-water raft and tubing tours on the Mulgrave, Barron and Tully rivers.
A soon to be completed review of the Queensland Crocodile Management Plan can’t come quickly enough for Cairns Adventure Group director Roderic Rees, who said his company was everyday assessing the risk of croc attacks.
“Croc management zoning around Cairns and surrounding areas needs a serious review,” he said.
“I fully understand we need to cohabitate but when the safety of the public comes into question there definitely needs to review of policy around croc management.
“We have a vested interest in seeing this croc management plan being the best outcome for the crocs and the river users.”
Traditional owner Aggie Munro said crocs have been seen at the Goldsborough Valley Campgrounds where there are no croc warning signs in an area long believed to be safe.
What’SUP Cairns owner Ally Chadburn, who was forced off the Mulgrave River earlier this year by a big croc, confirmed sightings at the campground more than 45km from where the river meets the sea.
With new estates opening up in the Goldsborough Valley and use of the river by swimmers new to the area, Ms Chadburn says unless something is done someone will get taken.
“There is nowhere safe on the south side for people to go anymore,” she said.
“The review is overdue, and all stakeholders that are using rivers for tourism need to be included in the review.
“I definitely think they need to be managing them a bit differently.”
Ms Chadburn called for the rezoning of the upper reaches of the Mulgrave River from a general management zone to a targeted management zone similar to the way Ross and Locke is currently zoned.
Currently there’s no rules regulating the removal of crocs at the Goldsborough Valley Campground and is considered “typical habitat for crocodiles”.
A new Crocwise Strategy currently being formulated by the Department of Environment is being developed in consultation with local government, First Nations peoples, tourism bodies and special interest groups throughout Croc Country.
The strategy is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
A three-year roll out of $4.175m for ongoing Crocwise initiatives adds to $12m over four years and $3m per annum announced in the 2021-22 state budget.
“The Queensland Government is committed to balancing the highest possible levels of public safety with the conservation of viable crocodile populations in the wild,” a DES spokesman said.
Development of a multi-beam sonar during the next three years will be developed to attempt to reliably detect the aquatic predators, improving public infrastructure, human behavioural change experts brought in to evaluate Crocwise messaging and physical crocodile barriers will be looked at during the next three years.
However, according to DES the Mulgrave River at Goldsborough is not suitable for the installation of a physical crocodile barrier due to the large volumes of water that flow through the area during high rainfall events.
Since 1975, there have been 46 estuarine crocodile attacks on humans in Queensland, 16 of which have been fatal.
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Originally published as ‘Nowhere safe anymore’: Outdated Crocwise strategy under scrutiny
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