The New South Wales government announced A$34 million in new funding to expand its shark-spotting drone program, committing to daily surveillance of around 70 beaches including every Sydney beach. The announcement came after a series of shark incidents in early 2026, including a teenager's death and a woman bitten by a large great white at Coogee Beach while swimming close to shore and between the flags.
The expanded program will assign at least one drone to each coastal council. Public pressure has been building, with some figures calling for shark culls. The NSW government ruled out culling great whites, which are a protected species, but said it is considering a bull shark cull.
According to a report in Phys.org, the lead researcher on the article flew spotter drones over Sydney beaches for a season and found that shark detection did not mean protection. The distinction matters as the government prepares to scale the program significantly.
Part of the issue is visibility. Even under good conditions, drone pilots detect only around 40% of sharks swimming beneath the surface in real time. That figure rises to about 50% after careful post-flight review. Murky water, which is common after rain, makes detection even harder.
The numbers on shark sightings are also likely to shift as more drones fly more hours over more beaches. Before drones, authorities relied on infrequent spotter flights, and few sharks were reported. Drones make extended observation easier, so sightings go up. But more sightings does not mean more sharks. As the drone program expands, beach closures as a precaution are expected to increase as well.
Research on shark movements has helped pilots assess risk in real time. At three Queensland beaches tracked over four years, only 4% of sightings were bull sharks, and no white or tiger sharks were seen at all. Drones mostly spotted small whaler sharks. The assessed risk was low.
There is currently no published peer-reviewed research showing that drone surveillance reduces shark bites. Researchers note this is not an oversight. Shark bites in Australia are extremely rare. Last year, there were 23 bites across all Australian waters, out of millions of ocean swimmers. The rarity of bites makes it statistically very difficult to design a study that could demonstrate a direct link between drone coverage and fewer incidents, given the number of other variables involved.
Drowning remains a far greater risk to ocean swimmers than shark bites. Shark incidents receive extensive media coverage, which can distort public perception of the actual danger.
The NSW government's program is set to include not just drones but other components as part of a broader shark safety initiative.
