SO, what do we do about crocodiles in Port Douglas?

The closure of Four Mile Beach yesterday has sparked heated debate on the current crocodile management strategy for the Douglas Shire, and for every ‘leave them alone’ cry there is three more demanding something be done to prevent what many believe is a tragedy waiting to happen.

“If you don’t like it, don’t swim,” is a common theme I hear. Well, people are starting to listen and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

What’s abundantly clear is there are more crocodile sightings than ever before, and more people choosing not to swim in the waters of our iconic beach. And they’re mainly locals; the average tourist blissfully unaware of the dangers a dip in the Coral Sea could bring. That seems a shame considering we are home to one of the world's most beautiful beaches.

The news of two crocodiles cruising the coastline yesterday morning has forced an issue simmering below the surface to boil over. You only have to glance at the Newsport reader comments following the closure of Four Mile Beach to understand the escalating tension within the community.

?There are sections that criticise the media for even reporting on crocodile sightings in Port Douglas, seeing it as some kind of quasi scare-tactic.

Informing the public of a 2.5m crocodile floating smack bang in front of the main swimming area at 9.30am is indeed scary. But it’s also a fact.??

The 'nothing to see here' mentality is a cop out. We all share this environment with crocodiles, so discussing different strategies to do so with a greater level of assurance can’t hurt. As those close to me know, I have huge admiration for these animals, yet that doesn’t supersede the right of mums and dads to safeguard their kids around them.

??The Douglas Shire Council, to its credit, has thrown up a number of proactive suggestions to the Queensland Government in an attempt to improve crocodile management practices in our region.

They want to train Council staff on crocodile hazing, which involves shooting the animal with rubber bullets in an attempt to deter them from approaching humans. Will that even work? I’m not sure. But it might be worth a try, and is a better alternative to the 'cull them all’ call popping up with every encounter.

Mayor Julia Leu, in a letter to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP), said giving local officers the power to haze crocodiles in ‘identified areas’ would ensure they're available when a crocodile of concern is present.

Would Four Mile Beach be an identified area? And was the crocodile lurking near the patrol hut yesterday of concern? The current EHP guidelines suggest it wasn’t, and therein lies some of the frustration amongst the community. Many argue, quite logically, that any crocodile approaching a heavily populated swimming area is a problem.

In any case, I doubt the sight of officers driving a boat towards a crocodile, in clear view of tourists, and pummelling it with rubber bullets would entice visitors back to Port Douglas.

It’s a difficult problem with no easy fix.

The EHP has come under criticism recently for being painfully slow to respond to crocodile sightings and lacking communication and transparency. On the latter point I have to agree. If they take as much time responding to reported crocodiles as they do the media then the system is broken.

Just yesterday, Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch called the Far North’s crocodile management plan a complete failure, and blasted Queensland Premier Anastasia Palasczuk for prioritising sharks in northern New South Wales over crocs.

??“(The premier’s) concern for human lives in northern NSW doesn’t seem to extend to Far North Queensland where crocodiles are threatening people’s safety everyday,” he said.

??“I’d ask her to turn her attention to her own state where crocodiles…in populated areas also have the potential to impact negatively on human life.”??

Senior Douglas Shire staffers have also called on her Government to review warning signage and to improve education campaigns surrounding the threat of crocodiles in the Far North. They’re worried about an increase in people taking more risks in known crocodile areas; the images of two foreign visitors paddling up Dicksons Inlet a classic example of either the ignorance surrounding crocs, or clear stupidity.