ANGLERS and boaties have taken to social media to voice their outrage over the state government's move to "wreck the wrecks" at Moreton Island.
Maritime Safety Queensland levelled the top of the iconic wrecks to the high-tide water line this month.
Work included cutting the tops off the sunken vessels, removing decking, and toppling deteriorating structures.
The government said the move was to stabilise the 15 rusting hulks, sunk off the coast of the popular Tangalooma tourist resort, a former whaling station, in 1963.
Since then, the wrecks have grown as a popular tourist attraction for snorkellers, divers and fishermen.
They also act as a major swell break for boaties who pulled in for a night at the beach resort and were a great shelter from prevailing winds.
Maritime Safety Queensland's Patrick Quirk said the wrecks were in an unstable and unsafe condition.
Cleveland MP Mark Robinson said maintenance works were considered under the previous government but he was unaware the wrecks posed a safety hazard.
He also slammed claims by the government that the works were necessary after asbestos was detected.
He said the lack of community consultation before the work was carried out was devious and the loss of the picture perfect postcard skyline of the two dredges was a blow to tourism.
"Campbell Newman raised the issue of the wrecks with me when he was premier and it was going to be an LNP project to fortify and extend the wrecks as artificial reefs," he said.
"We were planning for the future because they don't last forever and they are an icon but when we lost government, I didn't hear any more.
“This incompetent Labor government has ‘wrecked the wrecks’, turning a minor repair job into an international eye-sore.
“The people of Cleveland and Bayside Brisbane did not vote for the Tangalooma wrecks to disappear, and are calling on Labor to replace them with new boats and artificial reefs before the damage to tourism and our international reputation escalates.”
He vowed to raise the issue in parliament next week.
Moreton Island Community Association president Bill Gollan likened the carve up to the demolision of Brisbane's iconic ballroom Cloudland.
"We were never told this was going to happen and I've nbever heard anything about asbestos - if there was asbestos surely we would have known about it in the last 50 years," he said.
"This is terrible just before the Christmas holidays when lots of boaties and tourists go to the island for the wrecks."
