Netted beach enclosures are being installed across metropolitan beaches as temperatures begin to warm and shark fears remain at a high after a string of fatal attacks.
Works to install the 170m-long barrier at Cottesloe Beach were completed on Wednesday. The barrier will remain until the end of April.
Council crews are preparing the barrier at Quinns Beach to be operational by Friday while the City of Fremantle expects to install the Bathers Beach swimming enclosure later this month depending on the weather.
Quinns Mindarie Surf Life Saving coach Mike Spiby hopes the barriers will help give the community piece of mind and confidence to return to the beaches after the death of 63-year-old swimmer Greg O’Neill at Sorrento last month.
“There are always sharks there, but they’ve gone from back of mind to front of mind,” Mr Spiby said.
“I think it gives you a bit of reassurance. It’s good for the kids, good for their confidence.”
The enclosures are expected to remain in place there until April, too.
Mr O’Neill was swimming with a friend about 15m from shore about 10am on September 18 when he was attacked by a suspected 5m great white about 10am.
He was the third victim of a fatal attack in the State in a matter of months.
The deaths came amid a 33 per cent fall in the number of sharks tagged by the WA Government over the past 12 months, and an even bigger 60 per cent decline since 2023, when 28 of the apex predators were fitted with tracking devices.
In response to community concerns, the Cook Government committed extra money to increase shark tagging efforts and provide more receiver buoys along the coast.
Helicopter patrol hours have also been boosted, with an extra 378 flying hours to be conducted in the metropolitan area and 409 hours in the South West.
Mr Spiby said the shark attacks in recent months and Mr O’Neill’s death had “traumatised” the Surf Life Saving community across the State.
“Whether you’re at Quinns or Trigg or Cottesloe, it goes through the whole association,” Mr Spiby said. “When you lose a member like that, and so close to shore and just doing what you love doing, and to go like that, it’s very, very sad for the whole community.
“It affects the family, the club, the first responders, and the whole State; everyone feels it.
“We are a sea-based community. If you look where our population of WA is, we are coastal based, and it’s a large part of our lives.”
There has been a reduction in shark sighting reports on the WA Government’s Shark Smart website in recent days.