Scientists have rubbished the logic behind a new push to cull crocodiles in north Queensland, saying the only way to completely stop attacks would be to eradicate the species.
Katter’s Australian party MPs on Wednesday lodged a private member’s bill in the Queensland parliament to allow culling by landowners, the harvesting of crocodile eggs and hunting safaris led by Indigenous rangers.
The cull would be managed by a Cairns-based authority that would decide how many crocodiles would be culled.
KAP MP Shane Knuth said the new bill, which revived a proposal that lapsed at the time of the election last year, was about putting the welfare of people ahead of crocodiles.
“We can’t ski out in our favourite skiing places and the rowing clubs have dropped in numbers because they get out and row, they’re lucky to come back alive,” Knuth said. “I used to swim in those areas. You can’t do that now because you won’t come out alive.”
The number of crocodiles has increased dramatically since the 1970s, after the 1974 decision by the Queensland government to give them protected status. Dr Adam Britton, a Northern Territory-based zoologist and crocodile expert, estimated there were 95% to 98% fewer crocodiles in the era before the species was protected.
But, he said, even thinning the crocodile population to 1970s levels would not stop attacks.
“It’s possible that in the 1970s it was relatively safe to swim in Queensland waterways, but even then there were fatal attacks. If you bring the population down, even then there will be fatal attacks,” he said.
“The only way to make it safe … to stop crocodile attacks is to remove every croc. You wouldn’t want to be the politician who said, ‘It’s safe, go swimming guys’.”
Britton said ensuring people acted safely around water was a far more effective way to keep people safe.
He said crocodile management plans, which included awareness strategies and the selective removal of problem crocodiles, had generally been effective.
“There’s no doubt that the crocodile population has recovered,” Britton said. “The number of crocodile attacks over time has increased very gradually [from an attack each year to about 1.4 attacks a year] … but there are also a lot more people, so naturally the [number of] interactions between people and crocodiles have been greater.
“In Indonesia they have far fewer crocodiles but they have many more deaths.”
Britton said egg harvesting should be allowed as a way to support a sustainable industry in remote Indigenous communities. But he said harvesting in the Northern Territory had not led to a decline in the number of crocodiles, due to the low survival rates of hatchlings.
Britton said crocodiles were significant for tourism and other industries in northern Australia.
“If you’re going to get rid of all the crocodiles, is that a cost-effective way of saving people’s lives?” he said.
The bill, which was opposed by Labor and the Liberal National party during the last term, is unlikely to pass in the parliament, although the LNP leader, Deb Frecklington, told reporters on Wednesday she recognised crocodiles were a significant issue for people in north Queensland.
