A final update for 2024, with some looking ahead to 2025!

Queensland
As many of you may know, Queensland has changed government, and with it, there are new Ministers and portfolios. Ministers of note for us are:

• David Crisafulli - Premier
• Anthony (Tony) Perrett - Minister for Primary Industries
• Andrew Powell - Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Innovation

We have requested meetings with all three, and encourage you to do the same. 

Prior to the election, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (previously Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) had been undertaking a review of its shark control program. Some of you may have been asked to provide input. While we hope the findings of this review will be made public, we will share details with you as soon as we have access to any official details. The review could provide valuable insight into future decisions regarding shark nets and the safety measures that are currently in place.

New South Wales
A few months ago, NSW DPI announced some minor changes to their program including shortening the shark net season by one month. During that announcement, they also committed to engaging with local councils and communities to chart a new path forward for the program. Unlike the previous times they have promised this, they haven't left it to the last second this time. They are taking feedback from local councils right now, to inform changes for the 25/26 meshing season, which we of course hope will not happen. We understand Waverly voted unanimously to ask DPI to remove shark nets, and we understand Sutherland is also supporting this.

We are so far unsure of the positions of the other six, but they have traditionally supported removal and modernisation:

1. Newcastle City Council
2. Central Coast Council
3. Northern Beaches Council
4. Randwick City Council
5. Wollongong City Council
6. Lake Macquarie City Council

If you know anyone at the eight NSW councils with shark nets, please reach out and ensure their feedback to DPI is firm and clear, shark nets aren't wanted anymore. Of course this doesn't guarantee DPI or the Minister will listen - they may still decide to ignore councils like they have done in the past - but we have to ratchet up the pressure from all angles and hope that this is the time for long overdue change.

Federal

Loopholes in federal legislation used by the states to deploy lethal shark nets would be closed and non-lethal shark control measures supercharged in a plan launched recently by the Greens.

Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Whish-Wilson said:

“Shark nets are lethal fisheries devices masquerading as sensible protective barriers for humans, but the truth is they merely give a false sense of security to ocean-goers while indiscriminately killing marine wildlife.

“Decades of data reveals 63% of all shark bites in NSW have occurred at netted beaches. Meanwhile most marine wildlife captured in our shark nets are threatened or protected species, including whales, dolphins, and turtles.

“The federal government has a legal responsibility to protect endangered marine species, including those killed in shark nets – but shark nets won’t be removed until increased investment is made to keep ocean-goers safe. It’s time the federal government stopped palming this responsibility off to the states.

“That’s why the Greens are pushing the federal government to remove exi<

Envoy: Shark Cull will drop on Netflix this month, right before the Queensland state election.

It would be a huge help if you could please search for 'Envoy: Shark Cull' on Netflix, and click the "Remind me" button to be sure you don't miss it when it drops. If you can't find it in your region, please complete this form (https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest). Even if you've already seen it, please watch it again on Netflix! 

We are over the moon for the film to be available on yet another awesome streaming platform, educating the world about the almost 100 year long taxpayer funded slaughter of shark in Australia.

Investigative journalism and filmmaking are all too rare these days, so we hope you enjoy this deep dive on sharks and politics.

Minister Tara Moriarty confirmed on 30/07/24 that shark nets would return for yet another summer, albeit with a one month shorter meshing season.

NSW DPI shark programs leader Marcel Green said the changes this summer were the most significant made to the netting program in 40 years.

If the biggest progress in a program designed to catch and kill threatened and protected wildlife in over 40 years, is shortening the program by one month,  that speaks volumes. 

For over 10 years, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) and the Fisheries Scientific Committee (FSC) have condemned the program, who advise the NSW government about the shark nets, have consistently advocated for DPI to move away from shark nets. 

DPI bragging about this being the biggest progress in four decades, is a very weird flex indeed…

In short, yes. Here are the laws and potential fines if you were to choose to help wildlife in Queensland.

Queensland Fisheries Act 1994

87 Interference etc. with aquaculture activity or fishing apparatus

(1)A person must not unlawfully interfere with an aquaculture activity or fishing apparatus.
Maximum penalty—500 penalty units.

(2)In this section—
interfere with includes—
(a)for an aquaculture activity—the removal of fisheries resources, damage and destroy; and
(b)for fishing apparatus—
(i)the removal of fisheries resources; and
(ii)haul, pull, draw or reel in, or otherwise bring out of water; and
(iii)damage, destroy, mark, remove and trample.

31 Exclusion zone

(1)A person must not, without a reasonable excuse, be in the exclusion zone for shark control apparatus.

Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.

Note—

The locations of shark control apparatus are available on the department’s website.
(2)Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who is authorised, in writing, by the chief executive or an inspector to be in the exclusion zone for shark control apparatus for—
(a)installing, repairing or maintaining the apparatus; or
(b)freeing animals, persons or things caught in the apparatus.
(3)Also, subsection (1) does not apply to a person on a boat that transits through the exclusion zone for shark control apparatus—
(a)in a straight line or in the most appropriate or direct route, taking into account the circumstances of the waters; and
(b)without stopping.
(4)In this section—
exclusion zone, for shark control apparatus, means the area within 20m of the shark control apparatus.
shark control apparatus means any thing placed in or near water by the chief executive as part of the shark control program, including, for example—
(a)a net or line; and
(b)a buoy, float, hook, sinker or other thing connected to or otherwise associated with a net or line.

The current Queensland Shark Control Program (QSCP) operates on an underlying methodology of cruelty toward, and killing of endangered and protected wildlife. It can only operate without facing prosecution for animal cruelty charges on the basis of an exemption in the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (Queensland)

s.46 Use of fishing apparatus under shark
fishing contract
It is an offence exemption for an offence if—
(a)the act that constitutes the offence is the
use of fishing apparatus under the Fisheries Act
1994; and
(b)the use is—
(i)to protect persons from attack by sharks; and
(ii)carried out under an agreement between any
person and the State for the disposal, tagging
or taking of sharks.

The Department’s overly broad application of this exemption, that anything the program does is exempt, is highly troubling. In order for the exemption to apply, all three criteria (a), (b)(i) and (b)(ii) must be met. Cruelty must be committed with fishing equipment (as defined in Fisheries Act 1994), and the shark must be shown to be likely to harm harmed persons, and by a contractor who holds a valid contract. It is unlikely that all three criteria are met in each of the 1,096 cases of cruelty to animals perpetuated by the program in 2023 (that is, the catch total).

A very special, and much longer episode this week!

When the Government fail to do their job properly, good people have to step in. This week we bring you the extraordinary story of four kind hearted citizens who took matters into their own hands when the Government fell short. Our guests encountered a distressed humpback whale ensnared in shark nets off the coast of Marcoola this morning (01/07/2024). With no official help on the way, they took action. 

Despite knowing the risks, our heroes couldn't stand by while the government failed to act, and the whale was at risk of drowning. With the whale's life hanging in the balance, they embarked on a daring rescue mission. Listen as our guests recount the heart-pounding moments of releasing the whale from the deadly shark nets, the deep connection felt with the majestic creature, and the ultimate triumph of freeing the whale from these tax-payer funded death traps. 

This episode delves into the ethical dilemmas faced when the law doesn't align with what's morally right, and highlights the incredible impact of courageous individuals stepping up when it matters most.

Join us for a powerful story that shows legality and morality are sometimes misaligned, and be inspired by a true story of bravery, humanity and empathy for the animals we share this planet with. Because sometimes, when the government fails to do its job, it's good people out there who make all the difference.

A Joint Management Agreement is a document that NSW Dept of Environment (DCCEEW) will enter into with another Department, to allow them to kill protected species with legal impunity. It is a "license to kill". In the context of shark nets, Dept of Primary Industries (DPI) are not legally allowed to kill dolphins, whales, seals. It is illegal. Penny Sharpe and DCCEEW however gives DPI a legal cover for the killing of those animals, via the shark net JMA. This is the only JMA in existence in the entire state. It's is a complete anomaly, that exists only to support shark nets. Penny Sharpe and DCCEEW are required to terminate the JMA if it is not meeting objectives. It is not. The slaughter of protected animals is ongoing and untenable.

Link to the NSW shark meshing JMA

Each year, as humpback whales migrate along Australia's East Coast, the Queensland Shark Control Program’s (QSCP) nets become deadly obstacles for these majestic animals on the Humpback Highway. Whales are crucial for tourism however economic advantage aside, whales also deserve protection in their own right. Humpback whale populations have rebounded after the cessation of whaling in the 1960s, however, this rise in population has also seen a rise in whale entanglements and deaths in QSCP equipment during their migration season each year. Of major concern is that our statistical analysis of the QSCP catch data suggests a projected occurrence of up to 17 whale entanglements this year, with the potential for at least one whale death without urgent action to remove shark nets for migration season this year. While Queensland continually ignores this otherwise preventable crisis, New South Wales (NSW) has taken action for over three decades by removing shark nets during the peak humpback whale migration period since 1989.

ENVOY FOUNDATION WHALE PAPER