Croc’s and Sharks – By Dick Eussen
More Crocodile attacks
Far north QLD is taken the same direction as the NT did in the 1980’s when regular crocodile attacks happened as their numbers increased because people were slow to recognise the real danger they pose.
The problem is that so-called crocodile ‘experts’ tell all and sundry that crocodiles are endangered, that only a handful are found on the State and that people have nothing to fear from them. This crap is published in the media, who follow the advice of southern zoo and urban croc ‘experts’ instead of hearing local fishers who have regular contacts with crocs when fishing.
Not that fishermen are immune from crocodiles because on the average they are the most likely to be targeted.The latest victim was walking with his wife and three children when he slipped into theAnnan River, south of Cooktown. His wife tried to pull him up the bank, but when she was in danger of sliding in her husband told her to let go. He fell into the water where the hungry jaws of a 4.9m saurian was waiting. It was later shot by rangers.
The family were on a Cape York holiday and keen to explore Crocodile Bend. The latest attack follows a fatal incident on Saibai Island, where a 16-year-old teenager was taken in April, while 12 months earlier Laura publican, Kevin Darmody,was killed by a crocodile while fishing at Kennedy Bend in Rinyirru.
The Annan River attack brought to light that peoplewere feeding road kills and fish frames to a large crocodile at Crocodile Bend, which made it hang about for more hand-outs. It’s illegal to feed crocodiles in QLD, and the culprits were dumb enough to photograph the feeding and highlight it on social media.
In the meantime, the usual ‘experts’ weighed in with biased opinions and dumb statements that the media is responsible for the misinformation about how people perceive the crocodile threat and the bleating of ‘they were here first,’ mentality, meaning crocodiles. Only Cooktown Lure Shop’s, Russell Bowman made sense with his comments, the rest was the usual garble on Facebook from urban croc lovers.
Bowman said that the big croc has been in the river for decades. Before digital photography I photographed a monster over 4m in the Annan River, at a time when big crocodiles were rare on the Cape. There was another of similar size in the Bloomfield River, I often thought it was the same reptile. Neither posed any problems and seeing it was a bonus for anglers.
QLD had crocodiles under control, but the ALP Government failed to keep it that way by allowing them back into regional areas where they had not been seen for decades. The ‘experts’ say that they are not breeding, which begs the question, are crocs on the pill or does the Government hand out condoms to them?
Of course,it’s all under the guise of conservation and the sauriansare endangered. That may have been so in the 1980’s, but it no longer applies and its high time that protective and sensible measures that protect people instead of crocodiles, are talked about, which means that the UN needs to be told that it’s our country and it’s our people who are at risk, not the cheese and chardonnay set in Geneva. People are dying…
The Daintree River is enjoying some fine barramundi moments, following the intentionally release of 1000s of barra during the recent floods.
Shark Conservation: Ask any reef fisher about protection sharks and you will be guarantee to get a spray, even though they are deemed endangered by well-meaning, but ill-informed conservationists.
The annual International Shark Attack File (yes there is such an animal), reported that Australia is a hotspot for shark attacks that that we accounted for 40% of world-wide shark attack fatalities, but again the ‘experts’ soothed it over by stating that in Australia people were 400% more likely to be attacked by a dog than by a shark – I ask you!
Scientists state that sharks, mostly affected by fishing, are the ones needed to maintain a healthy ocean, and that would be so, but we are removing uncounted tonnes of fish, which are also eaten by sharks, thus if we remove the food and leave the sharks a balance is no longer possible…
Daintree River Fishing: The big flood that swept across northern QLD last December inundated several barramundi farms, including one on the Daintree estuary. No one is sure how many barramundis escaped into the river, but one thing is for sure, Daintree barra fishing has never been so good.
Historically it has a reputation of being a difficult barra river, something that I can testify having originated the first guided fishing operation on the river in 1990. It was a hard slog after coming out of Kakadu where the barra literally jumped on lures.
The fish are about in numbers and so are rumours of poaching by illegal netters who aretargeting the river at nightand by some fishers taking more than their limit. No netting is permitted in the river, but nets are often strung across part of the mouth by legal operators.
Fishing officers try hard, but unless they came across from Port Douglas or launch via the ferry, they can’t catch the culprits. Once night old mate and I were drowning some bait on the ballast grounds when a pro-boat came into the river. He was regular who had a large roll net on the rear of the vessel. That night, unaware that old mate and I were about 600m away, he backed the boat onto the southern bank, dropped the net anchor and pulled away for about 80m, the net effectively blocking the tidal arm.
It was a calm still moonlit night with no wind and the sound of a vehicle turning off the Daintree Road to the ferry was loud and clear, as was the noise of a boat being launched at the ferry. It’s about 13km to the mouth from the ferry but by the time the boat arrived the barra boat had the net back on the roll and was for all appearances moored up for the night.
It was the Fishery’s boat, manned by two officers, who spent more time checking my license, safety gear and catch, than with the other vessel, even though we told them what they had been doing.
Does this thing still happen? From reports it does and unless something positive is done about it I fear that the Daintree barra bonanza will be short-lived and revert to the days when catching a decent barra made for a memorable day.Catch the poachers and make an example of them…
