Have your say on whether crocs should be culled, hunted

FNQ waterways

Shaun Hollis

Journalist

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Under current legislation, "problem crocodiles" are removed from waterways and taken to wildlife sanctuaries. Picture: State Environment Department

A deadline for submissions to the State Government about a bill proposing sweeping changes to how crocodiles are managed in Queensland is fast approaching.

A parliamentary committee is currently considering whether to push ahead with the Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill, which would allow for crocodile culling - possibly including as part of a new hunting industry - and the harvesting of wild crocodile eggs for the farming of products such as meat and skins.

Submissions to the committee must be made by 10am on Thursday, April 3, the day after a planned public briefing on the bill to be held in Cairns led by MP Shane Knuth, who introduced the legislation to parliament in February, and representatives of the state Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation Department.

The current Queensland Crocodile Management Plan, released in 2017, only allows for “problem crocodiles” that pose a risk to human safety to be caught and relocated to wildlife sanctuaries.

But Hill MP Mr Knuth, who represents voters in regions such as the Atherton Tablelands and parts of Mareeba Council, says there is currently a “crocodile crisis” in Queensland, and allowing hunting licences would bring economic benefits and help keep crocodile populations under further control.

“Simply putting up signs and closing beaches is not enough,” Mr Knuth said earlier this year.

Some of the stated aims of a proposed new Queensland Crocodile Authority, to be based in Cairns, are to “take measures to minimise injuries and deaths caused by crocodiles”, to “decide the number of crocodile eggs that may be harvested each year”, to “decide the number of crocodiles that may be culled each year”,  and to “investigate viability of the use of state land to farm crocodiles”.

The authority must also not do “anything the director reasonably believes will cause, or is likely to cause, the population size of crocodiles to decline to such an extent that crocodiles are in danger of extinction,” the proposed bill states.

There will also be a review of the current management plan within six months if the bill is introduced in order to bring in a “zero-tolerance zone” where crocs will not be allowed to live.

Another public hearing on the proposed bill will be held in Brisbane on Wednesday, May 21, with the committee due to table a report about its findings on Friday, July 25.

Once the committee’s report has been tabled, the State Government will have three months to respond to any recommendations made.

Crocodiles live throughout the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York Peninsula, Torres Strait, and along the east coast of Queensland as far south as Gladstone, and occasionally all the way to the Mary River. 

 

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