WHITSUNDAY TIMES (Cannonvale, Australia) 27 July 07 It's just a huge croc (Patrick Manning)
You might think that naive tourists are most at risk from this area's crocodiles but a man who spends his working day among those crocodiles says that's nothing but a croc. Whitsunday Crocodile Safari owner Steve Watson said it was in fact complacent locals he feared for most.
He was speaking in response to the release of a State Government survey which showed crocodile numbers had not exploded.
Although there had been no obvious increase in crocodile numbers Whitsunday people were urged to take proper precautions in crocodile country.
"People tend to think it will be the tourists who get into trouble with crocodiles but I feel it is more likely to be locals," Mr Watson said.
"Some local people get a bit casual or blasé about crocodiles and I think they could be the ones who have a problem."
Mr Watson said other countries were able to manage their dangerous animals and turn them into tourist attractions.
"If you were in Africa you would not try to go and pat a lion would you?" Mr Watson said.
Mr Watson said he was not surprised the survey showed there was no real increase in crocodile numbers.
"We were watching three crocodile nests and then a flood came through on February 1 and all three nests failed."
He said people who claimed there had been an explosion in crocodile numbers and called for culls were uninformed.
"We hear people saying there should be a cull but they really don't have any information to back up those claims.
"People who work in the industry know there has been no explosion in numbers and they also know how important crocodiles are to the health of our marine systems."
Other sources have indicated that crocodile sightings have increased because more people have been going into crocodile habitat.
Mr Watson said a healthy crocodile population often meant a healthy marine system.
"Crocodiles are at the top of the food chain so if they are doing well then it's likely that the rest of the system is also healthy.
"When crocodiles feed they break up food which is then consumed by fish, crabs, prawns and all sorts of marine creatures so if you take out crocodiles then you leave a hole in the system."
Mr Watson said politicians who called for culls had the attitude that something was in their road and that they had to get rid of it.
"Industries like tourism and fishing depend on the health of our marine areas so we need to be aware that crocodiles are a part of that."
Only minutes from Proserpine itself the safari business had taken 30,000 people on crocodile watching trips since starting in 2000.
"Of the 2000 trips we have done on only six occasions have we failed to see crocodiles.
"And we have never had a dangerous incident.
"We operate under strict rules and the crocodiles know our boats and know that we are not a threat to them," Watson said.

http://www.whitsundaytimes.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3742867&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=