DAINTREE tourist operator David White said removing more crocodiles from areas such as Four Mile Beach was the wrong approach.

Mayor Julia Leu will request the State Government rezone the Port Douglas beach and other areas today at a special roundtable on crocodile management in Cairns.

White - who runs Solar Whisper Wildlife Cruises in Cape Tribulaton - attended Tuesday’s council meeting where the motion was passed, but said you could never guarantee the safety of swimmers at the region’s beaches.

“The Mayor did say she had to make it safer at the beaches for swimming, but then she said there is no way I would encourage anyone to enter a crocodile habitat,” he said.

“The truth is our beaches are crocodile habitat. Taking away crocodiles that are sighted on the beach will not make it safer.”

White has been running wildlife tours in the Daintree for 18 years and is a passionate conservationist. He agreed with councillor David Carey’s comments that the way Port Douglas is promoted to the tourist market ‘needed to be looked at’. 

“It’s very confusing for our tourists and the marketing messages that are going out there, with pretty girls standing in our beach waters up to their waste saying ‘come to Port Douglas and have a swim’,”

“Things are changing, that’s just the way of the world. You can’t do things you could do 20 years ago.

“It’s hard for people to get used to the fact we may not be able to swim at Four Mile Beach anymore (with increased safety) unless we build some sort of enclosure.”

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