4.3m tiger shark caught off Palm Cove
A 4.3m tiger shark caught recently off Palm Cove is the biggest to be snared in Queensland by fisheries officers since January last year.
The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries has caught 60 sharks off Cairns’ beaches since January 2009 through its shark control program.
Queensland Shark Control program manager Tony Ham said the 4.3m tiger shark was caught off Palm Cove on January 6.
A 4.1m tiger caught near Townsville was the largest taken in shark control equipment in Queensland in 2009.
Mr Ham urged swimmers to be cautious where they swam until March 12, as shark control equipment was out of the water because of cyclone season.
Shark expert and filmmaker Richard Fitzpatrick, who has been tagging sharks for research at Raine Island, 620km northwest of Cairns, described the 4.3m tiger caught off Palm Cove as medium-sized.
"We see them at Raine Island in our tagging stuff from anything from 3.5m up to 6m in length," he said.
Palm Cove was not a hotspot for tiger sharks, due to a lack of food.
"They’re looking for big rays and turtles and stuff like that. It’s probably just passing through," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
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