Drones, 'smart' traps in shark trial

Photo / THINKSTOCK

Catch-and-release shark traps, drones and floating internet networks are set to be trialled from this summer in a bid to nudge nervy New South Wales beachgoers back into the water.

The A$16 million ($17 million) plan is understood to be the single largest global trial of technologies designed to keep sharks and swimmers apart.

The Australian state's north coast has become ground zero for shark attacks this year and will be at the centre of the state Government's initiative to keep swimmers and surfers safe.

"We know that the north coast has been hurting, and some of the responses and the technologies that we will be deploying will be dedicated to the north coast," NSW Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair told reporters at Sydney's Coogee Beach. "But this is a whole-of-state response. The NSW coastline has over 2000km, and we know that what works here in Coogee may not work at some of the other beaches across the state."

The plan, which will test next-generation shark defence technology from this summer and extend over five years, will set aside A$7.7 million for trials of new technologies and aerial and coastal surveillance. That includes A$3.5 million for aerial helicopter surveillance to provide early warning to swimmers and help shark tagging operations. Twenty internet-enabled "listening stations" will also be positioned along the coast, which will help track sharks in real-time.

Blair's department head Scott Hansen says it is the single largest global trial of technologies designed to keep sharks and swimmers apart. "This is bringing technologies that might be being trialled in one or two places around the world - this is bringing multiple technologies into one location, for one trial, over one period of time."

Among the new technologies that may be tested in NSW are so-called "smart drum lines". It comes less than a year after Western Australia dumped its own controversial drum line programme, which involved an anchored bait and hook that trapped sharks and kept them from straying too close to shore.

"The old drum line basically sits offshore with a piece of bait, it catches a shark, and that shark is only found when the contractor or fisherman retrieves his gear," DPI shark expert Dr Vic Peddemors said. Smart drum lines send an immediate alert out - meaning NSW authorities will be able to retrieve trapped sharks while they are still healthy, tag them and release them out at sea. "The design is to be non-lethal, which is what's most exciting about the technology," Peddemors said. NSW will have to seek permission from Canberra before deploying the drum lines.

-AAP