News and Alerts

UPDATE on 23 October, 2015:
The Department of Parks & Wildlife has confirmed that the whale carcass has now been removed and that the beach will be reopened to the public tomorrow (Saturday 24 October).

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued due to a whale carcass being reported at Moses Rock Beach in the City of Busselton.

Situation:

• The whale carcass was reported by a member of the public to Department of Parks and Wildlife at approximately 2pm.
• 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’s not uncommon for sharks to be present off the Western Australian coast throughout the year, people should exercise additional caution

Alert level:

Pyramids Beach at Dawesville, where a young surfer was bitten on the foot on Wednesday, has been re-opened this morning.

Situation:

The City of Mandurah has opened the beach; given there have been no further sightings of sharks in the vicinity since Wednesday’s shark bite incident.

The Department of Fisheries yesterday confirmed after examining photographs of tooth fragments, that the young surfer’s injuries were most likely as a result of being bitten by a Grey Nurse shark.

Alert level:

Pyramid Beach at Dawesville, where a young surfer was bitten on the foot yesterday, will remain closed for today.

Situation:

The Department of Fisheries is this morning investigating the incident and trying to ascertain if the species of the shark can be determined.

The man received shark bite injuries to his foot after being bitten late yesterday afternoon and was later treated in hospital.

The department has determined the setting of capture gear is not required, taking into account the fact the beach is closed, there have been no shark sightings in the vicinity since late yesterday afternoon and a patrol boat has been monitoring the area since daylight today.

There are no people in the water at Pyramid Beach given the area remains closed today.

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.