3rd Humpback Whale Caught in Gold Coast Shark Nets in a Month
October 03, 2009
Humpback Whale Entangled in Shark Net Gold Coast, September 2009. Photographer: Grahame Long/Sea World
Two out of the three Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have been caught in the Kirra, Gold Coast Shark Nets; with the most recent entanglement occurring on Saturday morning 03 October 2009.
The victim of entanglement in the Shark Net was a month-old humpback whale calf, approximately 5-6m long; it was migrating south to Antarctica with its mother. The baby humpback was caught for hours and the mother and calf were both very distressed displaying large amounts of thrashing in the water.
The Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has recently invested millions of dollars to bring back Kirra reef, which is enticing marine life to the area where there are shark nets present. So it would only be responsible to remove the nets and invest in better bather protection strategies that do not harm marine life.