Shark Monitoring Offline! Are beachgoers impacted from network outages?

Back in 2009 SharkSmart website was introduced to warn beachgoer of sharks at their favorite swimming and surfing places. The goal is “see if it was possible to monitor the movements of tagged white sharks off the metropolitan coast, and to use new receiver technology as an early warning system when tagged sharks swam close to popular beaches”.

SharkSmart states:

“Sharks are fitted with acoustic tags that emit a sequence of low-frequency ‘clicks’ which give each tag an audible identification number. These unique signals can be detected and recorded when the shark swims within range of an acoustic receiver.”

The network has 37 acoustic receivers, which provide land managers, relevant authorities and the public with near real-time alerts of tagged sharks at key locations.

This network went offline leaving beachgoer without this crucial information. They are “liaising with the external service provider to restore the system as soon as possible”.

While tagged shark information was impacted, the government noted reported shark sightings were “not affected by this outage and will be published as normal through the Shark Notification System.

In the meantime, the service is fully restored but leaves the question what can be done when crucial and timely data is not available anymore?

Read the article WA shark advice issued for beachgoers after Shark Monitoring Network partial outage at PerthNow