News & Alerts

Department of Fisheries will set shark capture gear at SurfBreak Lookout, near Falcon, this morning after a shark incident on Tuesday afternoon resulted in a determination that a serious threat to public safety exists.

Situation:

• A man received injuries, and is being treated at Royal Perth Hospital after a serious shark bite incident which occurred before 4pm on Tuesday.
• An order has been issued by the Director General of the Department of Fisheries to deploy capture gear in the vicinity of the incident, to fish for the shark from first light today.
• Given the nature of the injuries and the location of the incident, it is likely that a white shark, of 3-metres or more in size, is responsible.
• The City of Mandurah has closed the beach.

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued due to part of a whale carcass being reported at Boodjidup Beach, South of Prevelly. 

Situation:

• The partial carcass was reported by Department of Parks and Wildlife at 11:20am this morning.
• It is possible the decomposing piece of carcass will act as an attractant that could lead to sharks coming close in to shore along this stretch of coast.
• While it’s not uncommon for sharks to be present off the Western Australian coast throughout the year, people should exercise additional caution in the area, until the whale carcass can be removed.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for Graveyards Beach near the Town of Exmouth after an interaction with a shark was reported today (20 May 2016).

Situation:
The Department of Fisheries has investigated the report of a 3.5 to 4 metre shark that interacted with a surfer at approximately 5pm yesterday (19 May). The surfer reported he was alone, when he encountered what he described as a large tiger shark that surfaced beneath his surf board, causing him to fall into the water.

The surfer was not injured.

UPDATE on 1 June, 2016:
Services have been restored to the 2.5kms off Mullaloo, the 3.5kms off Trigg and the 1.5kms off Scarborough Shark Monitoring Network receivers. The network is now fully operational.

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued for Western Australian water users due to a partial outage in the shark notification system.

Situation:

• Fisheries advise tagged shark detections from three off-shore Shark Monitoring Network satellite-linked receivers are currently offline.
• The locations of the receivers affected are: 2.5kms off Mullaloo, 3.5kms off Trigg and 1.5kms off Scarborough.
• The Department is investigating the fault. The receiver located 2.5kms off Mullaloo is off-line and the other two are intermittently operational – requiring further investigation. Water users should assume that all three are off-line until the fault has been resolved.
• The remainder of the system is fully operational, including all in-shore receivers.

Alert level:
For the ANZAC long weekend and the rest of April, the Department of Fisheries is renewing its shark warning in WA’s South West, for the area between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, due to continuing shark activity and sightings in recent weeks.

Situation:

• It is possible that the number of sightings in this area may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area.
• The change in activity may be due to a possible change in environmental conditions as schools of salmon have been reported in the immediate and adjacent areas in recent weeks.

Alert level:
With school holidays beginning this weekend, the Department of Fisheries is renewing and extending its shark warnings to the area between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin after an increased number of shark sightings in recent weeks.

Situation:

• It is possible that the number of sightings in this area may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area.
• The change in activity may be due to a possible change in environmental conditions as schools of salmon have been reported in the immediate and adjacent areas in the last few weeks.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for the area between Injidup Point Beach (south of Yallingup) and Cape Naturaliste after an increased number of shark sightings reported by the Surf Life Saving South West helicopter.

Situation:

• A number of unknown species of sharks has been reported on 25 and 26 March.
• It is possible that the number of sightings in this area may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area.
• The change in activity may be due to a possible change in environmental conditions as schools of salmon have been reported in the immediate and adjacent areas in the last few days.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for Other Side of the Moon surfing spot near Cape Naturaliste after an increased number of reported shark sightings by the Surf Life Saving South West helicopter.

Situation:

• A number of unknown species of three metre sharks has been reported over the past two days at 4.15pm on 19 March and 9.23am today (20 March).
• It is possible that the number of sightings in this area may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area.
• The change in activity may be due to a possible change in environmental conditions, as schools of salmon have been reported in the immediate and adjacent areas in the last few days.
• Schools of salmon have been observed from Conto’s surfing spot to Bunker Bay over the last few days.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for an area between Cape Naturaliste and Gnarabup area after an increased number of reported shark sightings. Sharks have been reported over the weekend at Windmills, Yallingup North, Other Side of the Moon, Smiths Beach, Honeycombs and Gnarabup.

Situation:

• A number of sharks have been reported in the area, both from public reports and the Surf Lifesaving helicopter over the period of 27 and 28 February 2016.
• A 2.5m shark was sighted at Gnarabup Beach on 27/02 and a 2.5m shark on 28/2.
• A 3.1 m shark was sighted at Honeycombs on 27/2 and a 3.0m shark on 28/2.
• A 3.5 m shark and a 4m shark were sighted at Windmills on 28/2.
• A 3m shark was sighted at Smiths Beach on 28/2.
• A 3m shark was sighted at Other Side of the Moon on 28/2.
• It is possible that the frequency or duration of the recent sightings may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area. The change in activity may be due to a possible change in environmental conditions. There have been reports of unusually high numbers of schooling tuna in the area.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for the area between Other Side of the Moon Surf Spot and Windmills Surf Spot around Cape Naturaliste after an increased number of reported shark sightings over the weekend.

Situation:

• Reports of several large sharks, species unknown have been reported over the weekend.
• 2 x 3m sharks sighted were sighted on 21/02, and 1 x 3m shark was sighted on 20/02 at Other Side of the Moon Surf Spot, south of Cape Naturaliste.
• 2 x 3m sharks were sighted on 21/02, at the adjacent Windmills Surfing Spot, south of Cape Naturaliste.
• It is possible that the frequency of the recent reported sightings may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area.
• The change in activity may be due to environmental conditions. There have been reports of unusually high numbers of schooling tuna in the area.