SW shark patrols to fly daily

South West beachgoers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing there will be an “eye in the sky” overhead from tomorrow.

The Surf Life Saving WA helicopter will conduct daily patrols of the coast until February 3 next year, as well as the March and Easter long weekends.

Announcing the start of the flight season in Busselton today, Fisheries minister Troy Buswell said the crew would be on the lookout for people or boats in distress, incidents on beaches, rip currents and marine life, including sharks.

“They will work with surf lifesavers on local beaches including Smiths Beach and Yallingup, where daily SLSWA lifeguard services will be in place next month,” he said.

“They will also work with the daily beach patrols at Meelup and Bunker Bay which start tomorrow and run until early February.”

Mr Buswell said because Fisheries’ tagged shark detection equipment was in place off Bunbury and Meelup, the helicopter could carry out checks of shark detections from the monitors.

“The shark monitors were installed last month and provide another early warning tool for beach safety,” he said.

“A third monitor for the South West is planned to be installed off Busselton in coming months.”

Last year the helicopter carried out 21 shark searches on South West beaches following alerts from Fisheries, Water Police and surf lifesavers.

It spotted 162 sharks, including 15 white sharks and a large school of 60 hammerhead sharks, and was involved in six search and rescue missions to provide support to WA Police.

SLSWA head of aviation Peter Scott told the Times the chopper would be based at Busselton airport to cut down on response times throughout the South West coast.

“Busselton is a strategic location for us. We can be in Margaret River is eight or nine minutes and at Meelup in four minutes,” he said.

Mr Scott said the chopper was fully equipped with the latest technology to respond to all kinds of rescue scenarios.

SLSWA rescue swimmer Bevan Macauley said it was a great asset for the community.

While absolute safety could never be fully guaranteed, he said having “eyes in the sky” was a big boost for swimmers.