A Western Australian man allegedly used a monitoring tag he removed from a great white shark to set off fake warnings in the Albany area for nearly a month.
The 48-year-old allegedly removed the tag from the shark after accidentally catching it and releasing it alive.
The acoustic tag, which had been fitted to the shark by Western Australia’s (WA) Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development as part of a monitoring program, was found by police during a search at a property in great southern region on Oct. 1.
From Aug. 13 to Sept. 4 the man allegedly used the tag to activate shark warnings in the area.
Albany police have charged the man with one count of stealing, they told reporters in a statement.
“WA police have charged a 48-year-old man with stealing in relation to the alleged stealing of an ‘acoustic monitor tag’ used in the tracking of great white sharks by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development,” the statement read. “The man is due to appear before the Albany magistrates court on 4 November 2021.”
Across Western Australia, there are 34 acoustic receivers for sharks that send real-time alerts which are relayed to the public via SharkSmart and Surf Life Saving when they are swimming in the area.
Since the program started, 115 sharks, including great whites sized up to 4.1m, have been tagged.
The sharks are each fitted with a tag that emits its own unique low-frequency “clicks” that are picked up by the receivers.
On Aug. 13, the Albany Advertiser reported that a great white shark had been detected by one of two receivers in the Albany area near Middleton beach at 4:46pm and again at 4:53pm.
On Sept. 4, a great white shark was again detected by the Ellen Cove receiver at 7:56am.
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’
Albany police officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Hugh Letessier told the West Australian that the alleged behavior was “irresponsible.”
“It leaves an untagged white shark that we know is in waters off Albany,” Letessier said. “Also the false alarm causes unnecessary fear to residents and people using the water.”
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
South Korea would soon no longer be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not work properly, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade stance to approve the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers. The approval was made “on the condition that strict security requirements are met,” the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Korean territory on products such as Google Maps and Google Earth, it said. The decision is expected to hurt Naver and Kakao
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
RSS