News & Alerts

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.

Alert level:
A shark ADVICE has been issued due to a rotting whale that has washed up on a beach about three kilometres north of Myalup townsite in the Shire of Harvey.

Situation:

• It is possible the badly 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’s not uncommon for sharks to be present off the Western Australian coast throughout the year, people should exercise additional caution while the carcass remains on the beach.

A shark WARNING has been issued for the area between Port Kennedy and Hillarys on the Perth Metropolitan Coast after an increased number of reported shark detections.

UPDATE AT 17:41 hours 27/07/2015: Fisheries advise services to Shark Monitoring Network receivers located at Scarborough and 2.5km off Mullaloo have resumed as normal..

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 – one located at Scarborough and the second located 2.5kms off Mullalloo – are currently offline.
• All other receivers in the network remain fully operational.

• Sorrento Beach in the north and Middleton Beach in Albany to get funding for new swimming enclosures
• In addition to enclosures already funded for Dunsborough and Busselton
• Brings the total number of State Government-funded enclosures in WA to four

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