Lifeguards may want to check their cell phones for text messages on the popular beaches in Perth. There are now monitoring stations designed to track movements of great white sharks off Perth's coast in Australia. Receivers track great white sharks that have been electronically tagged.
When a shark is near a monitoring station, a message is generated and sends an email to the Department database and then SMS text messages are sent to government and beach safety agencies. Agencies can then close beaches.
They have not tagged all the sharks in the water, they tagged a limited number of sharks. The majority of tagged sharks were from South Australia, although
it is suspected that great whites will roam as far as Perth from
Australia's central south coast.
Update 08/12/2011: More Great White Sharks have been tagged in Australia while Americans during shark season could use the same service.
"Although sharks are being tagged to improve our understanding of
the risk of attacks, it is also important that beachgoers are advised
of detections,"WA Fisheries Department senior scientist Dr McAuley said.
Great White Sharks (GWS) are predatory (eats other animals fish etc)
Their food includes other sharks, fish, sea lions, seals and other marine mammals,
turtles, small whales.
GWS are also scavengers eating animals already dead (Carrion)
Despite having teeth GWS do not chew their food but swallow whole pieces ripped off their victim by their teeth
We're wondering what the text message would say, "OMG GWS close bch."