Taylor Ladd Hudson - Surfrider Foundations Sunshine Coast

Thank you for having us today. I am Taylor Ladd Hudson, a 15-year-old local from Sunrise Beach. Our request today is not for the permanent removal of the sharpness in the river bay, but instead we are proposing a seasonal removal during half-life migration season. Ocean for all is a working party representing environmental groups that work within the Noosa Shire. Each group has a shared goal of caring for our environment and the wildlife that inhabits our beautiful Noosa placid. Working together as a team, have collaborated on the issue of the Shark Control Program in the green bay. Our team has the support of Sandy Bolton, MG, and have collaborated with her to survey local residents regarding their opinion on the use of shop nets, specifically the there's Noosa a shot. While representing a variety of groups, our team have consulted with the department of agricultural and fisheries, surplus city Queensland, and the scientific experts Lorentson, in the field to ensure our data is correct and the scientific expert in the field to ensure our data is correct and Amelia Lorentson sits in on our meetings, offering advice and reminding us of the Noosa Shire guidelines and procedures. Sandy Bolton's survey, which was released earlier this year, questioned the local Noosa residents if they supported the current use of shop hints at Noosa MyBage. 75.06 percent% said they don't. Bond university associate professor McVeigh said under oath during a Queensland administrative appeals tribunal that he would never recommend a lethal program and could never imagine for a legal shock program anyway. He agreed it was highly plausible that if the shock control program became non-lethal tomorrow, we would see no discernible change in impoverished shock bites, in particular fatalities. If we tomorrow tamar, decided to remove the nets and replace them with a non-lethal alternative, it would have no ramifications on shark incidents. There have been only 70 bites and 30 fatalities at protected beaches in New South Wales and Queensland.

At Greenmount Beach on the Gold Coast in 2020 a surfer had a fatal incident with a shark. The beach was fitted with a shark net and eight drumlines. It has been scientifically proven that sharks have a 96% chance of getting past the nets and over 40% of the sharks caught in the nets are caught on the beach side meaning they've already been in close contact to beachgoers and are peacefully making their way back out into deeper waters. In Laguna Bay since 2001 576 non have been caught and killed. This includes turtles, rays, dolphins, whales and any known species to inhabit or migrate through a beautiful area. Once an animal is caught it attracts larger sharks to the net for a free feed. Over the same period only 129 targeted shark species over two metres two were caught. And find and finally since 2013 at least seven known humpback whales have been entangled at Noosa Main Beach. I have personally witnessed and recorded three whale entanglement in the past three years at Noosa Main Beach. Four weeks ago a critically endangered grey nurse shark was caught in one of the nets in Laguna Bay. This individual was identified by the unique markings along the side of her body. Her name was Mary and this is the first sighting of her since April 2015. Nine years later, almost to the day she popped up dead while pregnant in one of our nets. This program is nearly a hundred years old. I've been in the shark conservation space since I was 12. I'm nearly 16. I'm a swimmer, surfer and volunteer lifesaver for Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club. It's time for change and it's time we see the Shark Control Program removed and replaced with current modern technology. We are not asking for a complete removal of the nets but asking for a seasonal removal during humpback migration season like New South Wales. One small step in the right direction. It's time we change and improve our ways to allow ocean goers and marine life to coexist in our biosphere. Thank you.

Thank you. My first question is, does the next generation of Noosa residents, being young people, deserve new, modern solutions? And in the management of shark mitigation strategies?

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 of 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?