New whale pingers installed on shark nets
by Qld Government on 18 Jun 2010
Qld Fisheries hopes the Pingers will deter whales from the shark nets. MIAA
New acoustic alarms or pingers which help alert whales to the location of shark nets will be installed on the Gold Coast this week.
Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries, Rural and Regional Queensland Tim Mulherin said the new pingers had a longer and louder noise specially aimed at alerting whales to the location of shark nets.
“With 13,000 whales expected to pass along the Queensland coast this whale migration season, the Bligh Government is committed to minimising the impacts of its shark control program on non-target species such as whales,” Mr Mulherin said.
“Last whale migration season, six animals were entangled in Queensland shark nets – all were successfully released by the State Government’s Marine Animal Release Team.
“That is a relatively small number considering there are up to 13,000 whales migrating back to southern waters, but still six too many.
“Technology such as these pingers could mean in the future tragedies in our nets and tragedies on our beaches are a thing of the past.
“A number of pinger prototypes have been designed and will be fitted to Gold Coast shark nets this week to test their durability in our ocean environment.
“The alarms have been developed by a Queensland-based specialist acoustic device manufacturer and give off a louder noise for a longer listening period making it easier for whales to hear.
“It is important to recognise that these alarms are designed to alert whales to the presence of nets – they are not designed to scare them away from the equipment.”
Fisheries Queensland Shark Control Program Manager Tony Ham said the pingers were designed to automatically activate when immersed in salt water.
“In total we will have 90 pingers in the water at any one time – that’s three on each net from Mackay to the Gold Coast,” Mr Ham said.
“The aim is to have these new pingers in place by August – this is in time for the second half of the whale season when young whales are more likely to come closer to shore and become entangled.
“After that the pingers will be fitted to the nets from May 1 to November 30 each year.”
To report whale entanglements call the shark control hotline on 1800 806 891.
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