Parents of City Beach nippers take up drone training to protect next generation from shark attacks

Parents have been offering to learn to fly drones in an effort to better protect popular swimming spots such as City Beach from the threat of shark attack this summer.

City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club president Eoghan McKenna said qualified volunteers will boost aerial surveillance at the beach when the nippers season begins on October 25.

Earlier this month, a 13m whale carcass washed up on South City Beach, attracting white sharks perilously close to the shore and forcing the closer of the beach because of public safety concerns.

Mr McKenna said the nipper season would start on time and hoped the drone program would help alleviate concerns.

“We are bolstering our air surveillance with the number of drone flights that will be running on the weekends, and the amount of mobile service equipment that will be in the water to ensure everybody’s safety,” he said.

“We have actually had a lot of people put their hand up this year to say, hey, we want to be part of the drone program . . . that’s everybody from nipper parents to patrol seasoned lifesavers, and we have a pathway to get them qualified.

“We’ve bolstered a number of drone operators as a result of the whale and the sharks and things like that. We’ll have one drone, and when conditions allow, we will have that drone in the air over 400-500m stretch between the groins, providing air surveillance.”

It took days for the Town of Cambridge to arrange a crane to remove the dead humpback, which was trucked away and dumped at Red Hill Waste Management facility on October 1. The mammal weighed about 18 tonnes when it was removed.

Authorities warned that the dead whale could attract sharks weeks after its removal because fluids had leaked into the water. Beaches reopened on October 7.

Mr McKenna said that there hadn’t been any shark sightings at City Beach as of Friday afternoon and the number of nippers registrations hadn’t fallen.

“We are a surf club first and foremost, and part of the surf club is the nippers program, and that’s where our next generation of lifesavers come from.

“Whales live in the water, sharks live in the water — they are marine creatures. It’s an aquatic environment in which the nippers take part in.”

Mr McKenna said the director of the nippers program will meet with the patrol captain and others before each nippers class to assess the risk.

He said he understood why people were “cautious” about entering the water but wanted to reassure the community safety measures were in place.