Shark and threat Detection

Shark Detection Course Overview

Sharks have always been out there. Most are no real issue for us ocean-goers, but some can be very dangerous. Notably white sharks and bull sharks.  Whilst their most active feed times are well known to be dawn and dusk, they are opportunistic feeders and will have a go at anything they perceive to be 'edible'. And if they get it wrong, it may be too late for the victim given the crushing bite strength of these apex predators.

With experience, comes knowledge of how and where to find these sharks. They've always been out there, but with advancing and very accessible drone technology, sightings are becoming more and more comment, leading to the misperception that there are an ever increasing amount of sharks out there.

The Rules - Compliance and Legislation

Traditionally, shark spotting is done very manually by a pilot on-beach. The problem here is those pilots have limited, to no training on how to spot and track these species or an awareness of their responsibilities as a Drone Operator. We see it all the time. More often than not, certainly in New South Wales, Surf Lifesaving pilots not only launch and retrieve their aircraft well within the minimum 30 meter exclusion zone, but fly over people and BVLOS for their entire shark operations without any approval to do so.  And this simply comes down to training, compliance and governance.

Shark Patrols - Finding Sharks

Finding sharks is very easy - when you know how! Our course covers everything from theory behind shark activity, how and where to find them and the techniques involved in real-time tracking with advanced trained, secure A.I. software from Dronestar™ Pty Ltd.

We'll show you how to set up, how to fly your search patterns, and critically,  camera setup for shark operations and of course, your responsibilities in terms of separation from manned aircraft, people and visual line of sight techniques and the over-arching 'rules'.

Identifying and Tracking

Sharks that pose a threat in most beach scenarios, as aforementioned are white and bull sharks. White sharks tend to patrol in an organised fashion in very similar positions continually and at certain times of day. They have a very distinctive silhouette when viewed from above. As do bull sharks - but both look and can behave  very differently..

Bull sharks tend to be less predictable. Whilst all sharks will attack when they feel like it, they're generally attracted to a 'lazy' option and prefer to go for injured fish/mammals in the water, or anything that is bleeding. We've seen bull sharks act together, in a similar way as dogs. They will approach a subject from different angles seemingly to ensure escape routes are cut off. White sharks rarely seem to do this from our footage. Bulls love to hang out near river mouths and generally feed on all the fish, and collect in those areas to feed. Unfortunately, these areas are often very good surf spots with churned up water, making visibility low and increasing the chance of mistaken identity during an attack. Still, we continue to swim and surf where we know there's a real shark threat.

Visual Line of Sight Tracking

The rules state very clearly, that unless you have EVLOS or BVLOS approvals (Extended and Beyond Visual Line Of Sight), you cannot fly beyond your visual line of sight, defined by yourself, as the pilot, as being able to visually see, and orientate your aircraft.  Shark spotting using a human pilot is very visually intensive and offers a high workload whilst maintaining continual Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS). However, there's a alternative right here.

Dronestar™ A.I.

Despite us not being a fan of A.I. at all, there are some areas in which it offers an incredible advantage. Our A.I. models allow the pilot to fly prescriber search patterns, or those with the relevant approvals, to automate the entire process using DJI Dock based systems that remotely patrol and report sightings, identify them, notify the relevant agency and track them - all in real-time. This is the future of shark spotting - and it's already here at Dronestar™ Pty Ltd.

Our Course

Here at Dronestar™, we have years of experience tracking sharks and other threats, and our 1 day course teaches you everything you need to know to have your pilots fly these patrols safely, and compliantly.  we show you how to fly, where and when to fly, how to set up your aircraft correctly and the techniques to manually identify and track, and more advanced techniques using our machine learning A.I. technologies. Contact us anytime to discuss or join one of our courses. They are generally held privately so we can contextualise your learning based on exactly what you want to achieve - examples such as illegal fishing patrols, shark and wildlife monitoring, illegal hunting and security,  border patrols etc, are a few use-case scenarios we teach.

Course cost is $1000 per person for 1 full day course. Group bookings are available.