Rachel Hagan, Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Community consultation on the Yorke Peninsula for the Regional Shark Mitigation Project has begun, with Surf Life Saving South Australia visiting southern YP.
SLSSA head of lifesaving and emergency operations, Sean Faulkner, spoke at the Yorke Peninsula Council meeting on March 12 and will visit Marion Bay and Corny Point this week to engage directly with the community.
He emphasised the importance of local input, stating that solutions could be devised solely from Adelaide.
“It is a fact of life that we share the waters with a number of marine creatures, so we are not trying to stop shark attacks, but we are trying to improve public safety through education and awareness, and then improving emergency responses wherever we can,” Mr Faulkner said.
South Australia has recorded four fatal shark attacks in the past two years — one in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park in December 2023 and three on Eyre Peninsula.
Out of about 30 shark species inhabiting South Australian waters, five are considered potentially dangerous: white sharks, thresher sharks, shortfin makos, bronze whalers and dusky whalers.
Last November, the SA Government, in conjunction with SLSSA, delivered a $500,000 package to reduce the risk and impact of shark interactions.
“Whilst we’ve got some funding, that money actually doesn’t go very far when you look at the size of South Australia,” Mr Faulkner said.
The funding will support coastal risk assessments, new signage, trauma kits, drone training and regional education programs in 26 local council areas along vastly different coastlines.
At the YPC meeting, Mr Faulkner said SLSSA aimed to train community members to operate drones, which could reach emergency situations faster than police helicopters and improve response capabilities.
These drones would also allow remote communication with swim-mers or surfers nearly a kilometre away, advising them to exit the water if necessary.
Local councils would be able to use the drones for other tasks, making them a valuable asset for multiple purposes, he said.
Regarding mobile shark-sighting apps, Mr Faulkner acknowledged the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas’ limited phone coverage, making such tech-nology impractical in the region.
“The reality is, if you don’t have connectivity, it’s useless,” he said.
As an alternative, some communities were implementing a flagpole warning system using an internationally recognised red-and-white quartered flag to signal water evacuations.
“This is a better way of doing it, and we’re including a community noticeboard with a chalkboard system to write up any notifications,” Mr Faulkner said.
SLSSA is working to implement both high-tech drone solutions and low-tech, regionally suited, approaches to improve shark mitigation across South Australia.
This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 25 March 2025.
