News and Alerts

The Department of Fisheries is currently involved in assisting WA Police with a possible shark incident at Mindarie in the City of Wanneroo.

Situation:

• About 11:50am this morning, Sunday 5 June 2016, Police received information that an injured person was found in the water off Mindarie, and was being taken to a boat ramp in Mindarie.
• Police and St John Ambulance personnel attended the scene and located a female person deceased.
• The deceased person has significant injuries that are consistent with a shark attack, however the cause of the injuries are yet to be confirmed.
• Inquiries are continuing at the scene.
• The persons that brought the injured person ashore reported sighting a shark, size and species unknown in the area.
• Department of Fisheries is treating the incident as possible shark attack, and a vessel will attend to assess the situation.

What to do:

• City of Wanneroo has closed beaches either side of Mindarie Boat ramp, south from Claytons Beach and Surf Spot and north to Quinns Beach. 
• Stay out of the water in the Mindarie area until further advice is issued.
• Keep informed of the latest detection and sighting information by checking the SharkSmart website 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 response agencies and to the public on the SharkSmart website and Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed.

Department of Fisheries’ shark scientists have examined two pieces of a surfboard recovered by WA Police following a serious shark incident at Falcon on Tuesday.

The scientists have confirmed that the damage to the board was as a result of a bite from a white shark, however there is insufficient evidence to determine the size of the shark responsible.

No biological material or tooth fragments were detected during the scientists’ inspection of the surfboard pieces.

Should any further parts of the board be recovered, the Department of Fisheries may be able to provide a further assessment.

Beaches around Surf Break Lookout, Falcon – where a serious shark incident occurred on Tuesday – will be reopened later this morning, when closure signs are removed by City of Mandurah rangers.

Fisheries and Marine Officers will continue to monitor the area.

The Department of Fisheries said it has been more than 24 hours since the last shark sighting, and more than 48 hours since the incident which resulted in a man sustaining serious injuries while surfing.

Although beaches will be re-opened, given the severity of Tuesday’s incident, the department advises water users to take additional caution in the Falcon area.

Beaches around Surf Break Lookout, Falcon, near Mandurah, will remain closed today after a serious shark incident in the area on Tuesday.

Department of Fisheries officers captured a white shark close to the area yesterday afternoon and will continue to patrol the water today.  Capture gear was removed from the water yesterday afternoon and consideration to deploying capture gear will be made if there are further shark sightings.

Departmental officers say the shark captured yesterday, estimated to be 4.2 metres in length, was not a tagged shark.

The captured white shark died on the line, and the carcass was disposed of at sea, after measurements and samples were taken.

At this time we are unable to confirm that the shark captured was the shark involved in the incident on Tuesday.

Further information on the department’s operational response will be made available later today.

Department of Fisheries officers will continue to patrol the water in the vicinity of Surf Break Lookout, Falcon, near Mandurah, on Thursday following a serious shark incident in the area on Tuesday.

Officers captured a white shark, estimated to be 4.2 metres in length, on Wednesday afternoon, close to the area where a man was seriously injured while surfing on Tuesday.

Beaches in the area remain closed until further notice and swimmers are advised to stay out of the water.

Department Officers are also conducting beach patrols and the Department continues to monitor the situation.

The Department says the captured white shark has expired on the line, and the carcass was disposed of at sea, after measurements and samples were taken.

A white shark has been caught in the vicinity of Surf Break Lookout, Falcon, near Mandurah, following a serious shark incident in the area yesterday.

Department of Fisheries’ officers deployed capture gear within the vicinity of the incident at first light this morning, and later captured a white shark, between 3 and 4.5 metres in size after 3pm this afternoon.

Beaches in the area have been closed.  Swimmers are being advised to stay out of the water.

An assessment of the operational requirements for managing the shark carcass is currently underway.

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.