News & Alerts

Update: 

The Department of Fisheries is currently assisting WA Police with a possible shark incident involving a 37 year-old Denmark woman, at Ocean Beach off Western Australia’s south coast this morning.

It’s understood the woman was surfing with her husband when her board was struck by a large marine creature, believed to be a shark. The woman has sustained minor injuries.

Department of Fisheries scientists have assessed the pictures of the damage to the board provided by WA Police and give the advice that, while it is not possible to provide a conclusive determination, it is very likely the damage was caused by a shark. There is no evidence, however, to suggest size or species

• ​Three State Government-funded research projects on shark detection and deterrents recently completed
• Existing and novel shark deterrents tested on a range of species in the wild
• Development of advanced visual shark detection system

With an Easter long weekend and school holidays commencing, people out on the water are reminded to stay alert and safe in the marine environment and to keep a check on the shark sighting and detection reports; available through the SharkSmart website and the Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA) Twitter service.

Department of Fisheries is advising water users in the Bunbury area to exercise additional caution after the stranding of a number of long-finned pilot whales in the Bunbury Harbour vicinity today.

Fisheries advise Shark Monitoring Network Services have resumed as normal following a reported outage earlier today.  

No shark detections were missed during the outage.

The Department of Fisheries Acting Director General, Dr Rick Fletcher, has rescinded the catch order for a white shark suspected to be responsible for a fatal attack off Cheynes Beach, near Bald Island, close to Albany.

The Department of Fisheries will continue to undertake surveillance in an effort to catch a shark at Cheynes Beach, near Bald Island off the coast of Albany, following a fatal incident which claimed the life of a young man on Monday.

Beaches will remain closed at Cheynes Beach, about 60 kilometres east of Albany, today after a fatal shark incident yesterday which claimed the life of a young man.

Beaches have been closed at Cheynes Beach near Bald Island, 60km east of Albany after a fatal shark incident late this morning.

Following a significant reduction in the rate of detections of the high hazard shark within Warnbro Sound, Department of Fisheries Acting Director General, Dr Rick Fletcher has rescinded the catch order.