Deputations and public questions to council, each opening on what council's minutes record of it.
2024-07-18
Public question
Ordinary Meeting
Taylor Ladd Hudson - Surfrider Foundations Sunshine Coast
Heard at the meeting. Council's recording has these questions from 1:55:14; our transcript is below.
▶ Hear it — council's recording, from 1:55:14
The feed timestamps the whole public question block rather than each speaker, so this starts at the top of that block.
What the minutes record
Question 1
Does this next generation of Noosa residents being young people deserve new modern solutions and alternatives in the management of Shark mitigation strategies?
Response from Director Strategy and Environment, Kim Rawlings
Working closely with representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), Noosa Council adopted a Council policy position on the Shark Control Program (SCP) in June 2024. The purpose of this strategy was to support the State transition to lower bycatch potential alternatives in waters adjacent to Noosa. Holding a policy position now also allows Council to effectively represent community views and desired outcomes of the SCP to the State. Under the Queensland Shark Management Plan, Noosa Council and SLSQ have assisted DAF to undertake a range of alternative bite mitigation trials, including the delivery of SharkSmart community awareness programs and drone detection trials. Noosa Council will continue working with the State to help transition the SCP to lower bycatch potential alternatives. Primarily, this will be through the upcoming review process of the Queensland Shark Management Plan.
Question 2
In my work as a youth eco leader, I have learnt that 95% of kids aged eight to 19 years old do not want to fish sharks and want to see them thriving and healthy populations off our coastline. We are so lucky to be named as UNESCO biosphere, can we uphold our values of a biosphere and lead the way to be a trial site for innovative Shark mitigation strategies?
Response from Director Strategy and Environment, Kim Rawlings
In 2010, Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries introduced a maximum size limit and stricter take and possession limits on non-protected sharks in Queensland waters. These changes were based on fishery stock assessments and stakeholder consultation. Noosa Council acknowledges that your community observations regarding the importance of sustainable shark fisheries are supported by a number of residents within Noosa Shire. Council views our advocacy to the State for the transition the SCP to lower bycatch potential alternatives is a key strategy in upholding our values as a Biosphere Reserve. UNESCO defines Biosphere Reserves as places that should promote the testing of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity. It is Council’s and the community's responsibility to represent our Biosphere values to the State Government. It is understood that
DAF will be incorporating past and current stakeholder consultation outcomes in the upcoming evaluation of the current Queensland Shark Management Plan. Discussions with DAF also indicate that the development of the next version of the Queensland Shark Management Plan (and associated bite mitigation strategies) will include community consultation during 2025.
This is council's own minuted record, in council's words. Nothing is reworded: the questions, headings and bullets are laid out as the printed minutes set them. Left out are the speaker's name (it heads this page), the minutes' page-header dates, and any “meeting adjourned” line the extract caught. Where an officer answered, the answer is minuted with the question and appears above.
Transcript of the recording
What this is. Transcript of council's recording, produced by automatic speech recognition and not checked line by line against the video. Names and figures are where this kind of transcript fails first. It is our transcript, not council's record. Recording © Noosa Shire Council. Council's own recording is linked above; where the two differ, the recording governs.
1:55:14 Mayor Wilkie: The first one is from Taylor Ladd-Hudson, from the Surfrider Foundation, Sunshine Coast. So Mrs. Ladd-Hudson, would you like to join us at the podium to read out your questions, which will be responded to by our Director of Strategy and Environment, Madam Kim Rawlings. Thank you, Taylor.
1:55:30 Taylor Ladd-Hudson: Thank you. My first question is, does the next generation of Noosa residents, being young people, deserve new, modern solutions and alternatives in the management of shark mitigation strategies? Hello, Taylor. Thank you for the question.
1:55:47 Director Rawlings: Working closely with representatives of the State Government, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Council has adopted a policy position on the shark control program. In June this year. The purpose of this strategy was to support the State to transition to lower bycatch potential alternatives in waters adjacent to Noosa. Holding a policy position, Council holding a policy position now allows us to effectively represent community views and outcomes of the shark control program to the State Government. Under the Queensland Shark Management Plan, Noosa Council and SLSQ have assisted DAF to undertake a range of alternative programs. Including the delivery of the Shark Smart Community Awareness Programs and Drone Detection Trials. Noosa Council will continue to work with the State to help transition the Shark Control Program to lower bycatch potential alternatives. Primarily, this will be through the upcoming review process of the Queensland Shark Management Plan.
1:56:46 Taylor Ladd-Hudson: Thank you. My second question was, in my work as a youth eco-leader, I've learnt that 95% of the kids I talk to aged 8 to 19 years old, do not want to fish sharks and they want to see them thriving in healthy populations off our coastline. We're so lucky to be named a UNESCO Biosphere. Can we uphold our values of a biosphere and lead the way to be a trial site for the innovative shark mitigation strategies?
Others who spoke that day