Qld shark control program set for overhaul

FIRST ON 7: Queensland's shark control program could be overhauled to protect swimmers while also hoping to avoid the capture and death of other animals.

It comes as a 7News investigation reveals sharks caught on drumlines are being savaged by even bigger predators.

Currently 30 nets and 362 drumlines are in operation in Queensland waters, and they have been used to catch sharks for more than half a century.

Shark Control Manager Jeff Krause says the nets have had a good success rate, with 686 sharks being caught last year.

"Since the program started, there has been one fatality at a controlled beach in Queensland," Mr Krause said.

But documents obtained by 7News, under Right To Information laws, found that some sharks - once caught - were then eaten by bigger predators.

"The shark gets hooked up and if it's a small shark it's going to attract a bigger shark and of course the food chain happens," marine expert Paul Burt said.

Some of the most dangerous species are caught – 137 bull sharks and 248 tiger sharks, the largest a 4.72-metre tiger shark on the Sunshine Coast.

And the most dangerous of them all, Great Whites, were also captured – six last year, down from ten in 2012.

But Sea World’s Trevor Long says the problem is that lots of other animals are also being killed.

"The shark nets are very indiscriminate in what they kill. We do lose a lot of marine life, we lose turtles and dolphins and rays and all this type of thing," Mr Long said.

Experts want the government to replace the nets with drumlins, to prevent humpbacks becoming snagged as they migrate along our coast.

"We're going to possibly have up to 20,000 whales coming south in this migration,” Mr Long said.

“Now in 10 years time it might be 30,000 animals. This whole situation is going to become worse."

Mr Krause said they hope to make the program more effective at catching target species

“We are currently looking at different techniques and technology,” he said.

Fishermen spotted a five-and-a-half-metre monster off Surfers Paradise this week and a net wouldn't stop something that big.

"That's the shark we don't want to see in our waters,” Mr Burt said.

“They are dangerous and definitely unpredictable."