News & Alerts

Alert level:

The Department of Fisheries is currently investigating a shark incident at Pyramid Beach near Dawesville, south of Perth.

Situation:

A man received injuries after being bitten by what was believed to be a shark (unknown species) shortly before 5 o’clock today.

Pyramid Beach has been closed until tomorrow morning, when the situation will be re-assessed.

Alert level:

A shark WARNING has been updated and re-issued for Perth coastal waters and offshore locations including Garden Island, following high numbers of detections of bronze whaler sharks on the Shark Monitoring Network in the last seven days.

Situation:

• An unusual number of bronze whaler sharks have been detected at Garden Island on the Shark Monitoring Network receiver in the last seven days. A smaller number of bronze whaler detections have also occurred at Bickley Point and Strickland Bay, Rottnest, and a white shark has been detected at Garden Island.
• It is possible the frequency or duration of the recent reported sightings and detections may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in Perth metropolitan waters.
• The change in activity may be due to a change in environmental conditions – such as the presence of schooling fish including pink snapper and Australian salmon.

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued due to a whale carcass that has washed ashore at a location known as “Reef Beach” approximately 26 kilometres west of Bremer Bay.

(Location 34.48391S; 119.14244E)

Situation:

• The whale carcass was reported by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
• It is possible the carcass will act as an attractant that could lead to sharks coming close in to shore along this stretch of coast.
• While it is not uncommon for sharks to be present off the Western Australian coast throughout the year, people should exercise additional caution while the carcass remains in the vicinity.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been updated and re-issued for Perth coastal waters and offshore locations including Garden Island, following high numbers of detections of bronze whaler sharks on the Shark Monitoring Network in the last seven days.

Situation:

• An unusual number of bronze whaler sharks have been detected at Garden Island and Warnbro Sound Shark Monitoring Network receivers in the last few days. Over the last seven days, bronze whaler detections have also occurred at Bickley Point and Strickland Bay, Rottnest, and a white shark has been detected at Scarborough.
• It is possible the frequency or duration of the recent reported sightings and detections may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in Perth metropolitan waters.
• This is an update of a warning issued on 28 August and re-issued on 4 September after six white sharks were caught, tagged and released off-shore in the Mewstone and Straggler Reefs area by Department of Fisheries researchers in a two-week period.
• The change in activity may be due to a change in environmental conditions – with an unusual abundance of Australian salmon also being noted off the Perth coast.  

UPDATE on 15 September, 2015:
Services have been restored to the Floreat Shark Monitoring Network receiver. 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:

• The Shark Monitoring Network receiver located of Floreat beach is currently offline.
• Extra caution is advised for water uses in this location.
• All other satellite-linked receivers in the network remain operational, including a receiver at nearby City Beach.
• A shark warning for Perth metropolitan waters issued on 28 August is still current due to an unusually high white shark activity off the coast.

The tagging of six white sharks off the Perth coast, in the past two weeks, is a strong indicator of an unusually high level of this species’ activity in metropolitan waters at present.

Department of Fisheries Supervising finfish scientist Dr Brett Molony said seasonally-unusual schools of salmon in metropolitan waters may be contributing to an unusually high abundance of these sharks.

Alert level:
A shark WARNING has been issued for Perth coastal waters and the offshore locations known as Mewstone and Straggler Reefs after confirmation of a number of white sharks in the Mewstone / Straggler Reefs area in the last few days.

Situation:

• An unusual number of white sharks have been in the Mewstone and Straggler Reefs area in the past few days.
• It is possible that the frequency or duration of the recent reported sightings and detections may increase the likelihood of encountering a shark in this area. The change in activity may be due to a change in environmental conditions – with an unusual abundance of Australian salmon also being noted off the Perth coast.
• Department of Fisheries researchers have been undertaking tagging in the area. Five white sharks have been caught, tagged and released. 

FURTHER UPDATE on 3 September, 2015:
Services have been restored to the Ellen Cove (Albany) Shark Monitoring Network receiver. 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:

• The Shark Monitoring Network receiver, located 2kms off Scarborough, is now offline and will require a maintenance crew to assess the full extent of the repair required.
• All other receivers along the Perth metropolitan coast are fully operational, including a receiver closer to Scarborough Beach.
• Maintenance was completed today to restore Mullaloo South to full operation and the Garden Island receiver that was also temporarily offline was restored yesterday.
• Repairs are likely to be carried out next week on the Ellen Cove receiver at Albany, which has been offline since Friday.

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

Situation:

• Two Shark Monitoring Network receivers are currently offline and a third has limited functionality.
• The offline receivers are at Garden Island and Ellen Cove (Albany).
• The receiver with limited functionality is at Mullaloo South
• Extra caution is advised for water uses in the affected locations.
• All other receivers in the network remain operational.
   

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued due to a large whale carcass that has washed on to the Spoilbank at Port Hedland.

Situation:

• The whale carcass was reported by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
• It is possible the decomposing carcass will continue to act as an attractant that could lead to sharks coming close in to shore along this stretch of coast.
• While it is not uncommon for sharks to be present off the Western Australian coast throughout the year, people should exercise additional caution while the carcass remains in the vicinity.