Drone finding sharks off Sydney
Flying a drone over Tamarama Beach just after dawn last week, Jason Iggleden filmed what he believes was a two-metre bronze whaler shark just 10m from the shore as two surfers were about to enter the water.
The previous week he filmed a 2.5m great white shark off the same beach. As it followed a huge school of salmon to within 20 metres of surfers, his team used a megaphone to warn them to leave the water.
The builder, surfer and creator of a new app called Drone Shark believes drones are a far more effective and environmentally sensitive way of keeping surfers and swimmers safe from sharks than nets and drumlines.
Flying drones off three eastern beaches this summer to supply surfing footage for subscribers – starting at Tamarama and Bronte at sunrise then moving to Bondi – Iggleden has found the technology surprisingly effective in tracking sharks.
In tandem with the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Drone Program, he thinks Drone Shark can also help identify swimmers in trouble and warm them about rips.
With corporate support, the plan is to extend the operation to the country’s highest-risk shark attack locations at both dawn and dusk.
According to the Global Shark Attack File in 2016, the country’s riskiest locations for unprovoked shark attacks include Byron Bay, Ballina, Sydney Harbour, Newcastle, Seal Rocks, Bondi, Fingal Bay, Lennox Head and Mona Vale.
Iggleden has been flying his drones since last summer but has committed himself to building the operation as a community resource since his ex-wife’s recent death from breast cancer.
He has seen about 30 sharks in the past six months, mostly nonthreatening grey nurses but also three hammerheads, the suspected bronze whaler and the great white.
‘‘That great white came back for another look but by that time the guys were out of the water,’’ Iggleden says. ‘‘If they were splashing around on their boards, who knows what could have happened.
‘‘That could have been a potential attack that we saved. That’s our aim: to keep guys safe for those early morning surfs.’’
While shark bites are rare in Sydney, a 4.6m great white was caught in the nets at Maroubra last month.
According to Taronga Zoo’s Australian Shark Attack File, there have been 15 ‘‘unprovoked’’ shark bites around the country this year.
Last week, the Ripper Group and Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Drone program announced that they would fly drones at 51 locations around the country to spot sharks and deliver safety devices over summer.
Nineteen of these locations are in NSW, including Sydney’s northern beaches and along the Central Coast.
Iggleden says the niche for his operation is the dawn start for early surfers – ‘‘the most dangerous times for sharks’’ – then eventually dusk.
‘‘We have the potential to upload to the app every 10 or 15 minutes so it’s like a live coverage of conditions,’’ he says. ‘‘People can see dangerous rips and there’s also the potential to spot anyone in trouble with our drones.’’