Locations of two new shark listening stations for Sydney Harbour revealed
An area off Balmoral Beach and another near Camp Cove Beach have been identified as preferred locations for the shark listening stations. (Supplied: NSW government)
In short:
Sydney's lower north shore and eastern suburbs are likely locations for two new shark listening devices.
The detection stations work by detecting "pings" from electronic tags fitted to certain species of sharks.
What's next?
The exact locations of the devices are yet to be approved, but it is expected they will be in the water in the next few months.
The locations where two shark detection buoys are likely to be anchored in Sydney Harbour have been revealed, following a spate of attacks over the summer.
One of the devices, called listening stations, would be located several hundred metres off Balmoral Beach, on the lower north shore.
The other would float next to the Sow and Pigs reef, near Camp Cove Beach in the eastern suburbs, not far from where a boy was fatally bitten off Vaucluse in January.
Loading...Marcel Green, head of the NSW government's shark management program, said the locations were chosen because the creatures are known to transit through those areas.
"The main focus is trying to look at those beaches that are used down in the lower parts of the estuary, such as there at Vaucluse and Nielsen Park, and also over there at Balmoral Beach," Mr Green said.
The listening stations work by detecting "pings" from electronic tags fitted to certain species of sharks.
A government-run mobile phone app, SharkSmart, then alerts users to the presence of a shark within 500 metres of a station — 37 of which are located off the state's coast.
Marcel Green says the locations were areas where sharks were known to visit. (ABC News: Sean Tarek Goodwin)
The devices cannot detect a shark that has not been tagged or whose tag has run out of battery.
"You'll never be able to tag every shark that swims in the ocean, but we're pretty confident that we're going to have a really good handle on it over the next couple of years,"Mr Green said.
More than 20 bull sharks tagged
Loading...Plans to install listening stations in the harbour were announced in response to a cluster of shark attacks in Sydney and on the Mid North Coast in January.
Four people were bitten, or nearly bitten, in 48 hours, including Nico Antic, 12, who had been jumping into murky water from a rock and suffered fatal leg wounds.
The attacks followed a period of heavy rain, which created brackish water conditions favourable to sharks.
The government increased funding to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development so it could begin tagging bull sharks within Sydney Harbour and Coffs Harbour.
Since late January, scientists have caught and tagged four bull sharks in Sydney Harbour and 18 in Coffs Harbour.
The listening devices cannot detect a shark that has not been tagged. (Supplied: NSW government)
Agriculture minister Tara Moriarty said the state had rolled out its "biggest and most comprehensive" shark program in its history.
With bull sharks leaving Sydney Harbour as the water cools this time of year, Mr Green said tagging would resume later in the year.
"As these animals move into the harbour, both into the southern part and up into the Lane Cove [River] through Middle Harbour, we're then going to have a bit of a canary in the coal mine," he said.
The researcher does not believe the listening stations will give swimmers a false sense of security.
"It's really just about giving people some information upon which to make their own decision,"Mr Green said.
"Obviously, the best place to swim within the harbour is within one of the estuarine swimming enclosures."
The precise locations of the new stations are awaiting approval, but are expected to be placed in the water in the next few months.