Crocodile spotted at Queensland surfing reserve
Surfers, swimmers and beachgoers are on alert after a "very large crocodile" was spotted in the water at a popular central Queensland beach this morning.
The Department of Environment says the crocodile, seen at Farnborough Beach, is estimated to be between 3.5 and 4 metres in length.
"It's the biggest one we've seen on the coast here for a little while, but it's not an unusual length for a crocodile," wildlife operations manager Frank Mills said.
Mr Mills said the Department of Environment expected the crocodile was travelling towards the Fitzroy River and would be travelling past Yeppoon, through Emu Park, over the next "couple of days".
"We urge everyone on the Capricorn Coast to keep an eye out and if they see a crocodile to report it but above all don't get close to it or interact with it," he said.
"This is a very large crocodile and is potentially very dangerous."
A crocodile estimated to be between 3.5 and 4 metres long has been seen lurking in shallows at Farnborough Beach
Third sighting this week
The sighting at Farnborough Beach was the third crocodile sighting this week, Mr Mills said.
A statement from the Department of Environment said another smaller crocodile, around 2 metres long, was removed from a pond near the Emu Park State School this month after the sighting was reported.
Mr Mills said the sightings were a "timely reminder".
"People here tend to be a little complacent about crocodiles … they do live in croc country and they should be taking the opportunity to report any crocodile sightings," he said.
A need for more reporting
Mr Mills said the Department of Environment had "unfortunately" not received a direct report about the crocodile sighting at Farnborough Beach.
"This has been put on Facebook but it hasn't actually been reported to us," he said.
"Firsthand accounts of what they actually saw and things that they may not think are important but are important to us … We use that information to ascertain as much as we can about the sizing and situation [of the crocodile] so that we can respond appropriately."
Large scannable QR codes were installed around the Fitzroy River last month to allow the public to report sightings via the QWildlife app.
"If you do see a crocodile you can quickly report that and if you are out on the water it will actually report the location that you saw the animal," Mr Mills said.
Anyone who spots a crocodile can also report the sighting by calling 1300 130 372.
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
Wow... bugger that!
Crocodiles are resident 100km North of Noosa. In 1905 a large one was shot south of Brisbane.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-03/curious-north-coast-crocodiles/97...
A few more decades and they may be baking on the Gold Coast beaches.
Somehow i can't imagine that being tolerated. They would be in the canals pulling in tourists on a daily basis.
It’s their ocean, we are only invited, let’s protect the crocs!
Fuck can we just release shitloads of them on the goldie? Please?
That's one bitey I'm glad I know I'll never see in the water around here.
So do we have an actual concrete positive sighting?
Seems a bit vague!
Used to surf Farnborough while at Uni in Rockhampton in early 90's, often dead cows etc floating in the line up after a cyclone. So no doubt if there were croc's around, they would have been at these parties!!
For what it's worth, never got any great waves up there. 5 Rocks had a good set up, but it rarely pumped.
Good luck with the croc's guys. Send photo's, we want to see em.
There was a video in the article from Facebook, but it's been removed. Photo above is apparently of the croc.
My brother in law and his family have a place in Yeppoon. Saw a pic he took last week at 5 rocks, and it looked more than decent. Totally surprised me.
Surf or Croc?
Surf! Granted it was onshore, but it looked fun! He doesn't surf though, he was just doing the fourby bogan thing.
By the look of the waves there's nothing to worry about.
When you surf at Tamarindo in Costa Rica you're pretty much surfing with crocs. You kick out near the river mouth and paddle like fuck back out the back. Fella lost his leg paddling over the river to reach the beach on the other side just a few months before I was there.
Coastal Northern Australia is a bit shit really. All those thousands of Kilometres of coastline, stinking hot and you can't even go into the water. Not that there's really any surf up there anyway. A mate of mine just spent the summer wayyy up in Cape York in a town called Bamaga. The place is further north than Samoa. Anyway, you can't even get near the beach due to the Crocodiles. Then there's the stingers and the sharks. A beautiful place no doubt but it must be frustrating not to be able to go swimming in the sea.
Recently up @ Agnes water seen the signs warning of stingers over the summer & spoke to a local from Maryborough who told me several large Crocs had been spotted in the Mary River which flows into Hervey Bay which Frazer Island is located just offshore.
Funny thing is I have been down the Goldy from Yeppoon for a comp and a lot of the guys were saying aren't there crocs up there and I'm doing the nah not really only ever seen one in the surf. The TV rang me yesterday for an interview because I run the surf school as well as am a Councillor and being away had to decline. Did however go straight to facebook and saw the monster. It's funny though sharks are spotted all up and down the coast more often than we like to remind ourselves and yet we see a croc in it's natural habitat and we go nuts. Early in the year I had to move a Surf Lesson due to a possible croc sighting and it is a timely reminder to always do due diligence and check our surfing locations before entering the water. Don't swim or surf alone and enjoy!
Not sure if due diligence checks will spot the sneaky lurking Croc or whether swimming or surfing alone matters much with them. Company doesn't do the Wildebeests much good during river crossings.
A shark cruises by a surfer and thinks "WTF is that" or "bit weird never eaten one of those before" and mostly moves on.
Croc cruises by and thinks "yep I can go that".
SUPs are pretty popular in Yapoon.
Funny thing that rogue crocs will be shot or caught and realised miles away but that approach doesn’t work for sharks?
cause crocs are amphibious and don't need to be transported in a tank?
Before we get to the crocodile, there is a surfing reserve at Yeppoon?
I do recall something around this many years ago but it's hard to find info online.
Surfrider look after the 'Big Dune Surfing Reserve':
https://www.surfrider.org.au/branches-capricorn-coast/
There's also a quote from a 2011 article about the Yeppoon Surfing Festival, re: Farnborough Beach’s Big Dune: "It is one of only two surfing reserves in Australia – the other being Bells Beach."
https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/surfers-catch-a-few-waves-at-yeppoo...
https://www.surfingreserves.org/
List of them all.
Big Dune and Bells Beach both not listed.
Yes, but obvious clickbait.
They are a part of life in the north. You learn to have a very healthy respect for them.
Last year there were reports of one spotted in the entrance or Round Hill Creek (1770) and one in Eurimbula Creek. All a stones through from Agnes. No photos so.........
As pointed out above by someone, confirmed in Mary River Maryborough numerous times.
With warming oceans, population growth and competition for territory, it's only a matter of time until they venture south.
I hate the line, its their ocean.
Imagine if you had Grizzly bears mauling people in downtown Los Angeles
"Its their land, were just visiting"
Primates are part of the eco system aswell.
Humans are far better adapted to living on, in and around the ocean than thousands of other species. It is in our DNA.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-sea-nomads-may-have-evo...
https://www.the-scientist.com/reading-frames/did-human-evolution-include...
We are not camels or giraffes floundering around in some weird wet stuff. We belong in and around the ocean based on our history and DNA and most species don't assume the role of being passive defenceless victims of predators or totally avoiding risk.
Fitting the ocean in our lives is all about balance not some guilt trip.
That 2nd link is great - using the incidence of surfers ear to see it 1mil years ago, and later, 47% of neanderthals had it...
Imagine all the barrels over that million years lol
Our ancestors would have body surfed many barrels over the early semi aquatic period. You don't get the ocean and diving adaptations we have without tens of thousands of years of evolutionary selection for them.
Caves on the west coast of Africa probably had a nice view of some reef breaks where food was gathered and waves ridden back to shore.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-sea-saved-humanity-2...
So it is our ocean habitat too. We are more than just visitors. We belong along with crocs, sharks and our old mates the dolphins. So the argument that we should stay land locked and not manage risks from predators is out of line with our species history. Water apes lives matter.
Chimps don't surf. We do.
We need, air, food and water (to drink) to survive. That is our essential needs. A shark/dolphin/crocodile can't survive without being in the ocean. We can. I fail to see how you can argue against these basic fundamentals. Pleaure, satisfaction. Yes. We love being in the ocean. Survival. No.
Unless you’re Mark Healy. He’s part man part fish I think
Ahh shit, you got me there GF ;-)
Never said that.
Part IV (The Index Fossil)
Bad Religion
We're widespread and well fed,
The earth's rotating fate is in our head, oh yeah.
We're dominant and prominent,
And our deity's omnipotent, oh yeah.
And immortality's in our mastermind,
And we destroy everything we can find.
And tomorrow when the human clock stops and the world stops turning,
We'll be an index fossil buried in our own debris.
We're listless, promiscuous,
And life to us is either hit or miss, oh yeah.
We're savoir faire and debonaire
And things we do are done with pride and care, oh yeah.
And immortality's in our mastermind,
And we destroy everything that we find.
And tomorrow when the human clock stops and the world stops turning,
We'll be an index fossil buried in our own debris.
See, immortality's in our mastermind,
And we destroy everything that we find.
And tomorrow when the human clock stops and the world stops turning,
We'll be an index fossil buried in our own debris.
In our own debris
Not long ago they trapped some Crocs in Mary river -100 k nth of Noosa
And sightings at Rainbow beach Dec 2020.
welcome to australia mate......should have paul hogan doing this
https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/1314567962270327/
A few years ago, my brother in law and his old man took me fishing in one of the remote rivers 100ks or so from Darwin. Coming back and getting the boat back up on the trailer, after already seeing 3 crocs, i distinctly remember standing in waist deep murky water shitting trying to guide boat back up.
A year later his old man, and another fella went fishing in the same little boat, in exactly the same spot and a croc came along under the boat and flipped it.
Sadly, my mates dad in his 70's who couldn't swim got stuck under the hull and drowned. Pretty heavy. The other bloke was then stuck in the mangroves for 3 hours, waiting for someone to go past with multiple crocs doing drive bys. He was throwing all the shit that had fallen out of the boat at the crocs to keep them at bay. Sparkplugs, containers, whatever he could. He eventually got lucky and someone came past in a boat and got him out of there.
Poor old Noel though. He never came home that day. Sad day. The crazy thing was, he'd just been cleared for cancer the previous week and had driven up to Darwin to celebrate that and go fishing.
Definitely lots to be said about lifejackets, being able to swim etc, but i guess he was doing what he loved. Crocs scare the shit out of me. Way more than sharks.
Not a croc story but in 91 -92 I lived and worked on Great Keppel island off yepoon for a year . On the main beach where the camping ground and resort were I used to surf a 1 ft peeler that ran perfectly down the beach for about 120 meters. , I never expected to find surf there so didn’t take a board but used a windsurfer minus the sail to cruise in the perfect 1 footers . We had a few cyclones and I surfed a beach just around from wapps camping ground at about head height on a borrowed 6ft pig of a board . Also on 3 occasions me and another bloke surfed a left hand reef point break on the opposite side of the island ( got watersports crew to drop us there ) at a little bit above head height . Apparently there is a gap in the barrier reef that allows south swells in . Certainly wasn’t mentawi but a bit off fun , fishing was awesome .
I don’t get how crocs are so protected up north while koalas etc and their habitat need to make way for development with devastating effect.
They are magnificent creatures, it's their ocean/estuarine area/land, you are just a guest.
Humans aren't part of ecosystems, humans belong in apartment towers.
Don't feel bad, come and dance around the fire* with us and worship Gaia.
*lithium powered lights, not actual burning wood fire.
Let's go to Surf Lakes instead :)
Off Topic : some homework for TBB re Surf Lakes Filtration / Whats there current Filtration / Chlorination ?
http://conditions.health.qld.gov.au/HealthCondition/condition/14/165/101...
Qldurr is under obligation...top question Udo > Massive pool going commercial.
Surf Lakes is a Rec Pool (Ski Lake / PWC / Boys Toyz)
Pathogens > Non immersible > No Basherz / Preggo / infants.
Urbnsurf recycles water but Airport Precinct sanctions bathers (Council might not?)
Townwater takes 4 days to fill 80ML > $221,600 @ Surf Lakes 1/2 Price $104k
2 fills - 10th Aug 2018 / 14th June 2019 (Lining $100k > $200K for tuff stuff)
N/W side Water to Pump House / High Volume Filters / Chlorine re: Council obliged.
Water > 6 Large Tanks >(Ozone (Top of tank) Sand > Gravel Filters) > UV > Main outlets.
Sand Filters also run thru > UV > 2x Bio Chem / Chlorine > Narrow Floating Pipeline Mixers.
Look closely at Vidz & you'll make out the Floating Pipeline network.(5 waves if you like)
Early line Ups show one ring of 11 Mixers circle the Deep / Slow water Plunger.
This was not enough, so line was extended into 3 of the Diagonal Channels.
New lineup features original mixers + 3x3 more to disperse timed Pool chems.
tbb is only guessing this...as many large water bodies adopt similar of late!
These "mixers" Double as Surfer's Utility Decks...can only guess as to what function.
Solar / rotor designs aerate water...note the egg carton underside to circulate dead water.
Also the Plunger & Wave to Shore action is best ever Ozone & UV filtration.
Very few pools have that complete mixing bowl effect to turnover water.
Surf Lakes have added a Top Up Dam...so they must back their filtration.
SurfLakes : water flows back to the Channels forming currents.
It all feeds back to cool Steam Tower then pumped behind for short run to Pump House.
You'll notice this working Pipeline Channel has no Mixers & is least active.
Can see the Huge Pipe exit pool & offshoots to HV Sand Filters.
Then repeat process...no idea if it all times with each set of waves or Weather
Would like to know if Pool has a Tide Timetable...be cool for slab hunters.
Can say that it seems efficient to disperse Chems where they're most needed.
Cost a fortune to saturate whole pool only to see yer money wash ashore!
So yeah! The mixers look odd but are increasingly being used in large bodies of Water.
Cost = $2.50 / wave .30c for Energy > $2.20 for Filtration & Staff (One of the same!)
Again...Right question to ask Udo...you unearthed the Money Pit!
If the Question relates to constant surfing for commercial use?
Mayor loves these guys & will sign off on water quality easy...
Hotel / Cabins / Camp sites may test the water Quality over days / week
They intend to put in a standard play / swim water park even a mini Surf Lakes.
Gotta think that Water Quality is priority with 4 SEQ wavepools hot on their tail.
Not too many creatures in the water that can kill you on land as well. Respect.
Maybe there's a better use for them than just wallets , belts and handbags. Pretty sure no one would be dropping in on you if you could harness one in the line up.
Awe is that you nessie?
have read of this article about our place in the food chain
https://apple.news/A_Qgo2oExQDuBPsJ5bZoX5A
Good article.
people keep saying "they saw/caught a croc/crocs in the Mary River..." but I've never seen a news article showing hard proof...
also, I'm a bit surprised the usual suspects around here (you know who you are) haven't made a footwear quip yet.
I spent three months in far north queensland on a family road trip back in ....86
Its a very beautiful part of Australia and has given me memories i will never forget.
the sea eagles and long stretches of highway (straight).
the clouds, the pies with peas, the butterfly museum, the G B R .....WTF
It was a time and a place way before internet searches
You never knew what to expect, there was a pebble beach somewhere past cairns where the rocks actually bounced if you threw them at the other ones.
Then there was always the signs.....the signs, i was young and it took some time for me to come to terms with it but .....it was hot as hell and you couldn't swim anywhere.
Box Jelly fish and the crocmonsters the fucken crocs were every where.
I was devastated that you could not swim anywhere, never did see much surf.
the tides were also out of control.
I believe it's not the heat that sends you tropo , it's the combination of seeing all that water the croc signs and not being able to swim in it !
Croc bites off Surfer's Leg & chews on his face then Surfer punches Croc on head & paddles ashore.
Yeah! Sure...we'll put a Warning on that Blood Lust Surf Flick.
https://qcostarica.com/surfer-suffers-brutal-attack-by-crocodile-in-tama...
Life Guard lends a hand to clear Gator from Beach Flags lineup. (That's a Double Triple Ouch!)
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/new-video-man-pulls-gator-out-o...
Costa Rica Surf Comp : Croc finishes off Stingray in Final ... still no Sponsor!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4684742/CROCODILE-makes-deadly-...
Sing: Nude Crocodile surfin' stinger net looks so queer - x3 (Pause) Repeat!
https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/cairns/beach-closed-after-cro...
Anyone check that Zipline swell arc up...run yer local fisho's swellnet out from shore on a Layday.
Ben's swellnet really is a Wave Magnet...who knew that...don't lie!
https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns-gone-wild/croc-creates-crowd-a...
Check Cheeky Crocs surfin' technique here
https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/cheeky-croc-spotted-su...
https://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/surfing-saltie-snapped-catching-a-wa...
Sing : Oz Tradie Surfs Crocodile without his Beer - x3 (pause) repeat.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wildlife/fearless-aussie-tradie-surfs-c...
Hologram escapes exploding Plane surfs Croc thru the Sky gets shot at by Nazi - saves Princess on Bike.
Do we got that...as if!
That's the one TBB, I was staying in a place called Laguna de Crocodillo or something, looking at the river mouth and thinking of that guy each morning before I went surfing.
There were a few hand painted warning signs but they weren't very prominent, I got the feeling locals and business owners didn't want to scare away tourists.
Went over the border to Nicaragua, surfed one playa then walked to the next beach and saw dozens of crocs hanging out in the river.
Anywhere near a rivermouth I always paddled fast out the back.
Patrick .....you know crocs can swim ........a long way .... and whats in the river will go out to sea ....camped at lizard island once and there were croc tracks 50 meters from where we were camped on the beach...and it must be 25ks or more out to lizard island from the mainland....just sayin
This reminds me of the time i was surfing a pointbreak by myself and started getting a spooky feeling like i could sence a shark. So i paddled out a bit further and sure enough a group of large tiger sharks were trying to sneak up on me. I grabbed the biggest one by the tail and dragged it into the beach. I had to cut open its guts and put some lemons in there. I also needed to line up five bbq's together to cook the beast.
Tasted great but.