Commercial divers have called for the development of electronic personal protection devices, following the deaths of two people by saltwater crocodile attack within a week off northern Australia.

A commercial diver, 55-year-old Russell Butel, was collecting fish for his aquarium when he was attacked at the end of September in Trepang Bay, north of Darwin. The attack was witnessed by a fellow diver and police were able to recover Butel’s body.

Just five days earlier Briton Russell Harris, 37, was killed while snorkelling with a friend off Groote Elyandt Island. He was believed to have been dragged under and, while the incident was not directly witnessed, his recovered body showed evidence of a crocodile attack.

According to a report by Australia’s ABC News, Brian Koennecke, Chairman of the Aquarium Fish Committee, has said that new, affordable technology is needed to combat the risk of crocodile attack while working in the seas and estuaries of Australia’s Northern Territories.

Koennecke said the possibility of an ultra-sound device (to warn of a crocodile’s approach) or electronic protection device (to somehow repel the creature) was being discussed, along with the idea of putting divers in cages and placing extra observers.

But what of sport diving interests? One dive operator, close to where Butel was lost, has suggested that an official cull might be legitimate. While crocodile hunting has been illegal for many years to prevent the animal from becoming endangered, northern Australia’s saltwater crocodile population is thought to have grown markedly in recent times.

Related links
Crocodile suspected of killing snorkeller

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