An expert team from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has just completed an operation off Esperance to tag white sharks at the request of the community.
A total of 11 female and five male white sharks were tagged across a total of 25 days in November and December last year and this month. Tagging occurred at a range of locations near Esperance including Alexander Point, Salisbury Island, Daw Island, Israelite Bay, Cape Pasley, Middle Island and Cape Arid.
All 16 white sharks can now be detected if they swim within range of one of Western Australia’s 27 satellite-link shark monitoring receivers. None of the tagged sharks have so far been detected by the Shark Monitoring Network.
A beached whale carcass at Alexander Point attracted sharks into the area, enabling the team to tag 12 white sharks at that location and a further four at Salisbury Island. These sharks are from the southern-western population that extends from Victoria, along the South Australian coast as well as WA’s south and west coasts.
White sharks are known to be highly mobile and travel long distances, and events such as a whale carcass stranding provide a significant attractant to white and other sharks.
The 16 white sharks ranged in size from 2.8 metres to 4.6 metres in length.