The Busseton receiver has a technical fault and is out of operation until further notice

A shark advice has been issued for Geographe Bay water users, due to an outage affecting the Shark Monitoring Network receiver off Busselton.

Geographe Bay is in the south-west of Western Australia around 220 km southwest of Perth. The north west part of the bay is the location of a number of surf breaks.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) advised that tagged shark detections from Shark Monitoring Network receiver located at Busselton is currently offline.

This is the only receiver out of service and the remainder of the Shark Monitoring Network has not been affected.

The Busseton receiver has a technical fault and is out of operation until further notice.

Geographe Bay water users have been advised to: Take additional caution in the Busselton area, adhere to beach closures advised by Local Government Rangers, Parks and Wildlife Service officers or Surf Life Saving WA, use the Sea Sense and stay informed by checking for shark activity on the SharkSmart website, SharkSmart WA app or Surf Life Saving WA’s Twitter feed.

Surfers have been advised to report shark sightings to Water Police. All shark sighting information reported to Water Police is provided to land managers and relevant authorities and to the public on the SharkSmart website, SharkSmart WA app and Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed.

The relevant authorities that receive shark notifications to assist them in responses have been notified of the outage; including the Surf Life Saving WA, WA Police and relevant local government rangers.

DPIRD will be working to restore the system to full operational status as soon as possible.

The Shark Monitoring Network forms part of a range of shark mitigation strategies in place.