Shark drones flying over NSW beaches will become a familiar sight after an extra $34 million will be spent to expand monitoring all year.
The NSW Government is spending the extra money on artificial intelligence and new technologies to boost coverage across 70 beaches in Sydney and the NSW coastline for 365 days a year.
The extra monitoring by Surf Life Saving NSW will prioritise beaches heavily patronised by swimmers, surfers and paddlers in Sydney and the North Coast, where shark attacks are become more frequent.
The boost comes after recent attacks and reports of greater activity, including a suspected great white shark attack on swimmer Leah Stewart between the flags at Coogee Beach.
(The move has been welcomed by Humane World for Animals Australia, or HWAA, but says the use of nets has to stop; see below)
The expanded monitoring will start on Wednesday (July 1, start of the new financial year) and provide year-round coverage across 38 Sydney beaches (from Palm Beach to Cronulla) with two new SharkSmart listening stations in Sydney harbour to detect tagged sharks.
SHARK DRONES MEANS EYES IN THE SKIES
NSW Premier Chris Minns says: “We know people love getting out to our beaches and they should feel confident doing it.
“While no one can ever promise no shark interactions, this investment is about putting more eyes in the sky so we can spot (them) earlier and give people a clear heads-up when they’re in the water.
“More drones in the air means we’re getting a better picture of what’s happening offshore and it means we’ll get better at seeing them,” he says.
Agriculture and Regional NSW Minister Tara Moriarty says the extra money “will deliver the most extensive aerial shark surveillance program we’ve ever had”.
“… these innovations will help extend drone coverage to more beaches at lower cost over time,” she says.
This extra funding will see the state government spend more than $120m on its shark mitigation program in the next two years.
Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steve Pearce calls the spending “the largest ever funding commitment to shark management in Australia” and the largest boost to SLSNSW for coastal safety.
“The SLS NSW Shark UAV surveillance program has proven to be an extremely effective component of the management program, having this year alone identified and prevented over 2000 sharks interacting with swimmers and surfers, and conducting over 100,000 flights,” he says.
President of Surfing NSW, Lusus Townsend says they support the new funding and new drone coverage “which will play a critical role in keeping surfers safer”.
Under the expansion: Regional coastal operations will, for the first time, include weekend flights year-round, daily flights from December 1 to April 30 and extending daily flight hours from dawn to dusk. This is extra to school holiday drone program with coverage extended to popular, unpatrolled locations.
Surf Live Saving NSW will lead the way with drone operations targeting seasonal demand, beach usage and peak use periods.
SLSNSW will also be able to upgrade their remote pilot and operating facilities to allow them to use new technology and pave the way for future daily drone flights from surf club rooftops.
HUMANE WORLD REACTS
The move has been welcomed by the HWAA but they say the government intends to persist with nets.
“This expansion of drone surveillance across Sydney’s beaches is fantastic news for ocean-goers,” says Humane World Australia (previously Humane Society International Australia) marine biologist, Lawrence Chlebeck.
“Drones represent the best way to keep an eye out and patrols commencing earlier will make a big difference to reducing the risk of bites.”
He says shark nets remain ‘a stain’ on the state’s approach to shark management.
“The public needs all of the bite risk strategies to be based on science but the government’s continued trust in outdated nets is misplaced; all the nets do is entangle animals, which attracts sharks nearer to shore,” he says.
They point out that 37 bites occurred at beaches with nets such as the last three attacks on Sydney’s Northern Beaches as sharks can swim around them.
OTHER SHARK DRONE NEWS: Qld monitoring takes off
