Jetty Swim adds shark security measures

Busselton’s biggest community ocean event, the Busselton Jetty Swim on Sunday, has boosted its safety strategies in light of recent shark attacks in the South West.

Busselton Jetty Swim committee vice-president Richard Ford said the committee had shark mitigation strategies in place for several years but upped the ante over the last two years, adding a second shark-spotter helicopter and a Department of Fisheries vessel to the protective armoury.

“The jetty has been upgraded with exits from the water at 75m intervals, there are now 26 ladders and we’ve added an additional two landings so the jetty now has four connected directly, ” he said.

“We also have surf lifesaving patrols with dedicated shark response protocols in place and zones of response.

“There are two helicopters monitoring the inner and outer perimeter prior to and during the event with dedicated spotters on board.”

Mr Ford said the Department of Fisheries’ vessel, the Geographe, would be in attendance and surf lifesavers would have about nine motorised inflatable devices, two jet skis and several paddle craft.

“There are a number of levels of oversight to mitigate the risks but this is the 19th Busselton Jetty Swim and every year swimmers that participate accept the underlying premise that this is an open-water swim, ” he said.