News & Alerts

Issued on 27 January 2022

Alert level:

A shark ADVICE has been issued for Western Australian water users, due to a planned system outage affecting the Shark Monitoring Network.

Situation:

• Tagged shark detections from the Shark Monitoring Network will be offline and are expected to remain offline for approximately 6 hours, due to system maintenance.
• The system outage is affecting all 35 receivers in the Shark Monitoring Network.
• During the outage, tagged shark detections will be manually monitored and posted to Twitter and SharkSmart, however, there will be some delays in notifications due to the manual handling of the data.
• Reported shark sightings are not affected by this outage and will be published as normal through the Shark Notification System.

What to do:

• Adhere to beach closures advised by Local Government Rangers, Parks and Wildlife Service officers or Surf Life Saving WA.
• Use your Sea Sense and stay informed by checking for shark activity on the SharkSmart website, SharkSmart WA app or Surf Life Saving WA’s Twitter feed.
• If you see a shark, report it to Water Police on 9442 8600. All shark sighting information reported to Water Police is provided to land managers and relevant authorities and to the public on the SharkSmart website, SharkSmart WA app and Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed. 

What authorities are doing: 

The relevant authorities that receive shark notifications to assist them in responses have been notified of the outage affecting tagged shark detections; including the Surf Life Saving WA, WA Police and relevant local government rangers.

Extra information: 

Switch on your Sea Sense and stay informed of shark activity information by checking the SharkSmart website – www.sharksmart.com.au/shark-activity, download the SharkSmart WA app or follow Surf Life Saving WA Twitter – twitter.com/SLSWA. Check www.sharksmart.com.au/news for updates to this alert and to view other warnings and media releases

The Shark Monitoring Network forms part of a range of shark mitigation strategies in place. See www.sharksmart.com.au for additional information.