Whale-watch fears over scallop farm
by Brendan O'Malley
Queensland Newspapers
Whale-watching tour operators have called for an immediate halt to a planned sea scallop ranch in Hervey Bay after the developers yesterday confirmed they would start operation in November.
Queensland Sea Scallop Ltd chairman Ted Wittingham said he received the necessary approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday afternoon. Hervey Bay whale-watch industry spokesman Peter Lynch said he was not opposed to a scallop ranch but wanted one of the two trial sites moved out of Platypus Bay on western Fraser Island.
"One of their sites is off Wathumba Creek . . . right in the middle of where the whales stop off on their way back to Antarctica," he said. "We can't afford to jeopardise this industry because of its value to the region. "Last year we took out over 64,000 passengers. When you add in food, accommodation and souvenirs that (is) a lot of money for Hervey Bay."
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Mr Lynch said Platypus Bay was the best place in the world to view humpback whales and that was recognised in 1989 when the area was declared a marine park.
The Environmental Protection Agency was currently considering a proposal to expand the park even further, taking in most of Hervey Bay.
Mr Wittingham said he had been negotiating with the EPA for months and the company was happy to meet the numerous "draconian" EPA conditions. "One of the conditions was no trawling during the whale-watching season. We have to start very small and monitor all the way along to ensure we don't damage the bottom," he said. "We have taken extensive video footage and have control sites so we can compare our sites with what the natural sea floor looks like."
Oceania Project spokesman Wally Franklin, who has researched humpbacks in the area for many years, feared trawling the sea bottom for scallops would destroy reefs which sheltered the bait fish humpbacks often ate.
"People used to think humpbacks did not eat during their migration; but we now have evidence they round up bait fish with bubbles and lunge at them," he said. "The best places to see whales are, in fact, where these bait fish congregate just after dawn."
Mr Franklin said the bay also housed large seagrass beds, dugongs, endangered loggerhead turtles, and other animals and plants which trawl nets would endanger.
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Or email: publicrelations@pacificwhale.org
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