Massive Shark Caught On Drum Line the Day Before Quik Pro

A protest against shark netting took place on the beach at Snapper yesterday, though if you were watching the webcast you wouldn’t know it.

The value of netting or drum lines is a matter of debate. Advocates point to the lack of attacks along the Queensland Coast, detractors point out the amount of unwanted by-catch. Turtles and dolphins and whales unintentionally ensnared.

Sharks are truly majestic creatures and, by-catch aside, I’m no fan of killing them. But I eat meat, don’t hesitate to kill animals I consider a nuisance, and don’t feel comfortable throwing stones from my glass house.  

Yesterday’s protest shot from below the WSL’s media team.

Yet a proponent could point towards the massive shark reportedly caught via drum line one day prior to the beginning of the Quik Pro. A source at the contest site told me it was big. Very big. So big it couldn’t be pulled aboard the boat assigned to bait and monitor the existing drum lines.

Further details are difficult to come by because of the somewhat clandestine nature of the program. The Gold Coast Council wants tourists to feel safe. Reminding them that it requires an ongoing program to eradicate a creature with the reputation for being a man-eater, deserved or not, works counter to that goal. A source pointed me toward the local lifeguards, a group likely to know more.

“They keep that stuff pretty much under wraps,” one told me. “The guys working that day may know more, but no one else will.”