Published on Thursday, 9 January 2025 at 12:58:40 PM

The bronze whale shark previously within the shark enclosure at Cottesloe Main Beach was sighted exiting the enclosure late this morning and swimming away in a south westerly direction.  The area has now been swept twice by Surf Lifesaving WA’s helicopter, confirming that the shark has gone.  The contractor is reinstating the sections of the barrier removed to allow the shark’s exit.  The enclosure will then be swept by boat, ahead of being opened for swimming.  We expect the beach to be opened later today.

The Town is grateful to SLSWA, our local surf clubs, the Department of Fisheries and the contractor, for their assistance in dealing with this issue.  And also to our amazing community and visitors to Cottesloe, for their patience and understanding while we worked to resolve the issue.

The contractor will be inspecting the barrier over the next few days, to determine if there are gaps requiring attention. 

The barrier is one part of the Town’s shark mitigation strategy, which also includes Spectur shark detection units, daily beach patrols by our surf clubs, well established protocols for dealing with incidents including shark sightings and installation of BEN signs on all our beach access paths.  These combine to offer swimmers the best possible peace-of-mind swimming in our wonderful marine environment.

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