Produced in collaboration with SBS Gujarati
TRANSCRIPT
At a seaside café near Sydney’s iconic Manly beach, Mrudul or ‘Mike’ Vasavada is tracking shark movements on his mobile phone.
"A two metre bull shark observed at Tallows beach, Byron Bay and beach closed. And any of these are surf life saving NSW alerts. When they spot a shark, they advise the size of the shark, where, what inlet what beach, time and date."
Mr Vasavada designed and manages the SharkSmart app for the New South Wales Government.
It tracks tagged sharks using drone surveillance and shark listening stations along the coast.
When a tagged shark swims within 500 metres, a signal is sent to the platform.
Mr Vasavada says it aims to keep people safer in the water.
"You want to go for a swim, you just want to be cautious. You want to see if there is an alert or a shark incident that's happened. Most of us have a smartphone in our pockets or a smart watch these days."
So far this year, three fatal shark attacks have occurred in Australian waters.
Marcel Green, who leads the New south Wales Shark Management Program, says the number of close encounters is rising.
"There are more people in the water over summer and autumn, so there's an increased potential for interactions. There's increases in incidents for the last 20 to 30 years and that's really why we have the shark management program. That's why we have lifeguards and lifesavers at the beach."
There were almost 500 shark attacks in Australian waters between 2000 and 2022, and most of those were along the coast, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Among recent fatalities, a 17-year-old girl who died in February, after being bitten at Bribie Island north of Brisbane.
New data shows bull shark numbers are booming in Queensland waters.
Mr Vasavada says it’s one reason says SharkSmart could soon be deployed there.
"There's obviously interest from other states as well. We've got 300,000 users of apps at the moment, just pretty significant. We've sent close to 2.5 billion push notifications to users out there."
Scientists say climate change may be one reason for the recent increase in shark attacks. As sea temperatures rise, bull sharks are moving south. Plus, with more people swimming for longer in warmer waters, contact is inevitable as Mr Green explains.
"These summer bites, that's more probably a case of more people in the water. Sharksmart's just one of the components of the New South Wales Government Shark Management program, which is alongside the 305 smart drum lines, the 51 Shark Nets, 50 drones, and the 37 tagged shark listening stations. The app's about trying to communicate to you about ways that you can minimise your risk or your chances of an interaction while you're out there having fun. If you're a surfer, think about the beaches that have shark mitigation measures already in place. Also think about not surfing alone and everyone should avoid going into say, murky waters or turbid waters and don't swim after rainfall."
New South Wales has tagged around 3,000 sharks so far. And while Australian waters are home to around 180 shark species.
Mr Green says most bites are from bull, tiger or white harks.
"The most frequently caught shark and the most frequently detected shark in New South Wales is the white shark. Hence why they're also then involved in more interactions with us. The most popular beaches for sharks detections are Yamba Beach and Evans head on the far north coast and Bennett's beach in that Hawke's nest area - all with over a thousand detections"
However, sharks play a vital role in the marine environment and deserve our respect, according to ecologist and Manly visitor Doug Westhorpe.
"They are apex predators, they're important for the whole ecosystem to function properly. They're scavengers. It’s their habitat and we've got to respect that when we go into the ocean."
It’s a view shared by Valerie Taylor, an Australian conservationist who spent her career diving with sharks – including great whites.
A known critic of shark nets, Ms Taylor wants people to be more shark aware.
"If we get in their way and they don't like it, that's our decision. We put ourselves there. They're just doing the job nature intended. They're cleaning up the old, unfit and unwary."
Helping people to avoid contact with sharks is one reason Mr Vasavada developed the service, after migrating from India as a student in 1999.
Like many new arrivals, he was cautious about these powerful marine predators.
"With sharks there's a natural fear in people, right. As somebody who came to Australia and I look at the water and I think of oh my god, there must be sharks out here right. And you go overseas, people are always talking about, oh sharks in Australia."
Although Mr Vasavada ran his own business, he says building a new life wasn’t easy.
"We had to literally pledge my wife's jewellery to buy a flight ticket out here. I literally gathered $300 that I could and just land in Australia with absolutely zero contacts and I had no clue where I was going as well. So pretty tough times when you come here."
More than 25 years later his business called Mobiddiction, has two-thousand clients worldwide and runs 40 programs, including a whale watching app.
"We get about 10,000 users logging in their whale sightings from their tours that they go out. So, if you go in and have a look, we'll tell you the exact location of where the whale was spotted last. And that helps you running your whale watch journey as well."
Growing a business in a new country took courage.
But Mr Vasavada is glad his online service helps to protect lives in his adopted home.
" I feel really proud that we've done all this through the years and it's not been easy by any means. Being a first generation migrant and going through that initial struggle, I think the one thing that it actually just gives you naturally is you learn to fight. You learn to never give up."
