Shark News: Sharks on Twitter

The Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed (@SLSWA) is doing a fantastic job keeping water users up to date with shark sightings along the WA coast. Previously SLSWA used visual aids - such as shark surveillance by helicopters - to inform water goers that large sharks were in the area. Thanks to efforts by the Shark Monitoring Network to tag large sharks along the WA coast, tagged sharks can now be automatically detected when they stray too close to shore and an alert is sent to the SLSWA Twitter feed. The Tweets transmit data regarding the sharks species (if known), time and location of detection.

As of October, the WA Government reported that they had tagged 136 white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), 171 whaler sharks (Carcharhinus brachyurus) and 19 tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier).　Troy Buswell - the WA Fisheries Minister - stated that alerts could be sent out within 2 minutes of the shark straying too close to a monitor. The speed of these updates will ensure the SLSWA are able to respond faster to large sharks in the area and take action if necessary.

Whilst there has been some criticism that these Tweets may make large sharks vulnerable to hunting - especially in light of the recent decision of the WA Government to destroy large sharks close to beaches - giving water users advanced warning of sharks will hopefully not only reduce encounters between beach goers and sharks but will make people feel safer about entering the water.