Volunteers use drones to track sharks for Shark Watch SA as sighting soar

Sirens whirr as yet another shark is spotted in SA waters, while one man’s plan to keep swimmers safe will soon take to the sky.

Multiple shark sightings at a popular Adelaide beach have prompted a new initiative to better monitor and identify sharks, filling “gaps left by authorities”.

Anton Covino, a 28-year-old labourer, founded Shark Watch SA – South Australia’s largest shark reporting site – in 2014, quickly amassing a large social media following, which now has over 150,000 followers.

He’s been under the pump lately, with more than 36 shark sightings since April 1 – as of April 27 – the most recent being a 4.5-5 metre monster Great White, spotted “frolicking in very shallow water close to shore” at Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island, according to the West Coast SA Shark Alert Facebook page.

“Seen by locals who know what a shark looks like,” the post read.

Shark Watch SA is using drones piloted by volunteers to track sharks along the SA coast. Picture: Brett Mensforth

Extensions to aerial shark watch patrols for an additional month were announced on Saturday, but Mr Covino said the fixed wing patrols only surveyed an area for a limited time, making it difficult to track the sharks.

“The shark patrol plane goes up and down maybe five times in a day, and that’s only about five minutes per area up the whole coastline,” he said.

A new community initiative driven by Mr Covino, bringing together volunteers and their drones to survey the seas while the patrol plane isn’t in the area “will help fill the gaps left by authorities”, he said.

The drone shark spotters group will be an extension of Shark Watch SA and will use volunteers to help locate, monitor and identify sharks.

“There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t as a community advance surveillance on the water on our own terms,” Mr Covino said.

“If we can get people to monitor a shark for a couple minutes at a time as it goes up or down a coastline, then the police can spend their time working to get people out of the water.

“If there’s no response to monitor a shark and there’s no correspondence, then people could be unsuspectingly walking right into the path of a shark in the water.”

Mr Covino said he’d already received “dozens” of messages from people wanting to volunteer their time “to do good for their community, without wanting monetary compensation”.

Originally published as Volunteers use drones to track sharks for Shark Watch SA as sighting soar