2016-05-09
Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren has applauded the Government’s announcement today that it will allocate more than $1.5 million in the State budget to its ‘early warning system’ Shark Monitoring Network.
“I’m relieved the Barnett Government has not repeated the mistake it made in 2015 when it cut funding to this very valuable program,” Ms MacLaren said.
“The Greens have been saying all along that the SMN provides the best system we have for detecting real shark threats because only sharks big enough to bite a human are tagged and, when a tagged shark is detect, we immediately know the species and size.
“The Barnett Government wasted millions of taxpayers’ dollars on that pointless attempt with the drum lines two years ago and previous cuts to the Fisheries budget was completely undermining our world-class research into sharks.
“I’m pleased this time round it appears to have thought it through and will now take the sensible approach.
Related campaign: Save Our SharksRelated portfolios: Animals