SHARKS — HAZARD
MITIGATION
1110. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Fisheries:
I refer to shark hazard mitigation
this summer.
(1) How many automated shark warning
towers are operating in Western Australia presently?
(2) Where are the towers located?
(3) What is the approximate cost of
the towers in capital and recurrent terms?
(4) What is the
specified range of the towers; that is, what is the limit of each tower's
capacity to detect a tagged shark?
Hon DARREN
WEST replied:
I
thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. On behalf of the
parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Fisheries, I provide
the following answer.
(1) There are currently 10 automated
shark warning towers operating in Western Australia.
(2) Automated
shark warning towers are located at: Esperance, which has two; Lefthanders surf
break, which has two; Gracetown, which has two; Bunker Bay, which has one; and
Cottesloe, which has two.
(3) The capital cost of shark
warning towers is $9 500 and the annual recurrent cost is $1 056.
(4) The automated
shark warning towers are located adjacent to a shark monitoring receiver that
detects a tagged shark swimming within 500 metres of the receiver. The state
government is in the process of upgrading the detection range of the shark
monitoring receivers to approximately 800 metres.