The Petition
See below for a copy of the petition that will be sent to the Australian government members when you sign this petition.
If you would like to email them yourself, please feel free to express your concern about the Shark Nets in Australian waters today!
You could also send a letter your local QLD and NSW mayors or councilors in areas that use shark nets.
The Hon. Peter Garret
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Cc: Hon Nathan Rees, NSW Premier thepremier@www.nsw.gov.au
Cc: Hon Anna Bligh, QLD Premier thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au
Cc: Ian Macdonald, NSW Minster for Primary Industries macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au
Cc: John Robertson, NSW Minster for Climate Change & the Environment
office@robertson.minister.nsw.gov.au
Cc: Tim Mulherin, QLD Minster for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland Mackay@Parliament.qld.gov.au
Cc: Kate Jones, QLD Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability kate.jones@queenslandlabor.org
Regarding: The Use of Shark Nets in Queensland and New South Wales waters
Dear Hon. Peter Garret,
We are writing to you to express our serious concern over Queensland’s “Shark control” and New South Wales “Shark meshing” programs.
It is very distressing that the government are using a technique put in place in Australia in the 1930’s almost 80 years ago. Management techniques have changed since then, we now know a lot more about sharks and other marine life that show us that Shark Nets are an ineffective and unsustainable strategy.
Sharks play a critical role in our ecosystem, they are key predators in the food chain and the survival of marine life and life for humans is threatened by the potential loss of sharks. Of the approximately 370 shark species in the world there are only 4 that are listed as potentially harmful to humans, therefore they pose a very small risk to us.
Each year the following number of people world wide are killed by:
Starvation 8,000,000
Road Accidents 1,200,000
Illegal Drugs 22,000
Execution 2,400
Elephants and tigers 100
Sharks 5
Shark numbers around the world are declining and there are many negative impacts that are influencing this including the shark control programs in Australia.
The United Nations developed the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks in 1999, which Australia agreed to take positive action to ensure the conservation and management of sharks and their long-term sustainable use. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry developed its own National Plan of action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks – Shark Plan where shark control programs are listed as a threatening fishery; however there has been no action to remedy the threat.
Killing sharks in shark control programs, while also killing dolphins, rays, and turtles, is an unnecessary and outdated practice. This issue requires immediate attention, shark nets should be permanently removed from Australian waters.
Through public awareness and education campaigns, plus non-invasive and effective shark monitoring approaches, such as aerial surveys used in South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria; we all can peacefully live and play in the ocean.
The tourism industry in Australia relies on live sharks to attract tourism dollars (for example Great Barrier Reef dive tourism industry), and the Shark Nets in Australia are showing the world the Australia are NOT leaders in marine conservation and protection.
In New South Wales, the shark meshing program has been officially listed as a “Key Threatening Process” to marine life by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries under the NSW Fisheries Management Act 1994 (FM Act), and the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act). With this understanding by the NSW Government it is confusing and ridiculous that the NSW shark meshing program is still in use.
It is imperative that action is taken immediately to Remove the Shark Nets from Australian beaches to stop the pointless killing of marine life that occurs along our coastline everyday.
We believe that the public has a right to make our own educated decisions about the status of the shark nets.
Signed,
Please sign petition to the right (or print and sign and send) …