Fish die in net mishap
VIDEO: Thousands of fish were found dead at low tide yesterday after being caught in stinger nets set up for the Festival Cairns triathlon and ocean swim.
And there may be more dead fish after this morning’s low tide, following authorities’ decision to leave the nets attached to Marlin Marina in Cairns overnight.
Event organisers and the Department of Fisheries and Primary Industries last night defended the event planning and use of the nets and said it was an "unusual" accident.
The bait fish were stuck helpless in about 200m of net and were visible about 3pm yesterday, following the morning’s triathlon.
Officials also defended not taking down the nets, owned by Uninet, immediately after the fish kill was discovered.
Cairns Esplanade Festival of Sport chairman Malcolm Robertson believed the school of fish were stuck in the net after being chased by a predator.
The net was put up on Friday.
"It was fully approved by DPI and marine parks – it’s the same as a stinger net on the beaches" Mr Robertson said.
"It’s really unfortunate. It’s not a major thing. It’s not an ecological disaster."
A DPIF spokeswoman said the incident would be investigated today.
"Our guys are still looking into it, but being a Sunday there is not a lot they can do at this stage," she said yesterday.
But former charter boat skipper Paul Johnston was shocked by yesterday’s scene.
"This is just poor planning," Mr Johnston said.
"We’re trying to preserve the reef and fish stock. There will be another low tide and it’s all going to happen again."
The Cairns Post fishing expert Scott Hillier said there were no legal issues with the nets being used but said it was still a set of unfortunate circumstances that probably had not been foreseen.
fishing expert Scott Hillier said there were no legal issues with the nets being used but said it was still a set of unfortunate circumstances that probably had not been foreseen."Being a small gill net, these small fish swim through it," he said.
"It’s different to being caught – when they are gilled they push their head through the tiny hole.
"They get stuck in that position and die. They must have tried to get out with the tide," he said.
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Something fishy: Thousands of small fish have died after being caught in a stinger net at low tide.
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