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Saturday 22 December 2012 | WEEK 27 | Issue 27
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, CQ! SEE YOU IN 2013! NEWS
Saturday 22 December 2012 | WEEK 27 | Issue 27
$1 incl GST
CA P R I CO R NI A WE E K E N D E DITION
Could this Fitzroy River resident, snapped at Nerimbera a couple of months ago by Queensland Telegraph fishing writer Steve Pill, be the croc spotted this week sunbaking and feeding at the barrage?
Rocky MP Bill Byrne has met with authorities on the croc issue.
CALL TO REMOVE CROCS By Adrian Taylor
USERS of the Fitzroy River have raised fears over the growing number of large crocodiles upstream of the Rockhampton Barrage. Skiers, canoeists, rowers, surf-live savers and farmers have joined forces to call for a concerted effort to remove potential killer crocs before there’s an avoidable tragedy. And Rockhampton MP
Bill Byrne has revealed he raised the issue this week with the Parks and Wildlife Department state director who promised to form a committee early in the New Year to formulate an action plan. Sightings this week of a three-metre croc basking at the fish ladder just downstream of the barrage has heightened awareness of the risk to river users. Mr Byrne told The
Queensland Telegraph he believed the time had come to “manage rather than conserve” because it was evident there were more sightings than ever before. “If nothing is done it’s probably only a matter of time before the inevitable happens,” he said. “I have a close personal interest in this because my wife teaches rowing at the Ski Gardens, so I am a concerned citizen. The last
thing we want to see is a child taken or a fisherman attacked as he puts his tinny in to the water. “At this stage no-one is talking about a cull,” he said. “But we might need a change of emphasis to reduce the threat to those who regularly use the river.” He said he had been assured by the state director that there was a management plan in place, that the
department was very aware of the concerns and that surveys were actively under way to understand the scale of the problem. The existing management plan, active on the freshwater side of the barrage, allows for the removal of animals over two metres where they are judged to pose a risk to the public. He said he believed it was unacceptable for children or sports people to share popu-
lar areas of the river with crocodiles. Farmers had reported seeing increased numbers of crocodiles on the river’s banks. “There is now no question that the crocodile population is increasing in the river. We know that there are breeding sites at Eden Bann. This is not a political issue, we just want a result we can feel comfortable with,” he said.
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