The NSW Government is significantly expanding its investment in shark-spotting drone technology to help keep people safer in the water with year-round coverage that will deliver the largest expansion of aerial shark surveillance in the world.
The Government will invest an additional $34 million in drones including harnessing artificial intelligence and emerging technology in a major scale-up of drone coverage across beaches in Sydney and along the NSW coast.
Under the expanded program, Sydney beaches will benefit from drone monitoring 365 days of the year, along with some locations in other coastal local government areas.
The delivery of the project uplift by Surf Life Saving NSW will prioritise beaches with high numbers of swimmers and surfers including in Sydney and the North Coast, where shark incidents have been experienced.
This expanded monitoring will begin on 1 July 2026 and include year-round coverage across all Sydney beaches from Palm Beach to Cronulla. It will see more beaches covered, longer daily patrols from dawn till dusk and year‑round monitoring at key locations across the state.
This is in addition to the existing school holiday drone program along the coast.
Importantly, coverage will not be limited to patrolled beaches, ensuring protection extends to popular, unpatrolled surf locations.
Surf Life Saving NSW is looking to recruit and train new drone pilots to deliver the expanded program. For more information on this exciting opportunity, visit Work For Us
Harnessing artificial intelligence and emerging technology
The program funding uplift will also enable the continued exploration and expansion of emerging technologies to enhance drone monitoring across the state, including AI.
Surf Life Saving NSW will be able to upgrade remote pilot and operating facilities, in addition to expanding the Drone-in-a-Box and Beyond Line of Sight (BVLOS) technology.
“While no one can ever promise no shark interactions, this investment is about putting more eyes in the sky so we can spot sharks earlier and give people a clear heads-up when they’re in the water,” said the NSW Premier Chris Minns.
“We’re backing practical technology that helps keep families, surfers and swimmers safer right across the coast.”
Surf Life Saving NSW CEO Steve Pearce described the announcement as the largest ever funding commitment to shark management in Australia, and the largest uplift of funding to SLSNSW for the enhancement of coastal safety in NSW.
“The SLSNSW Shark UAV surveillance program has proven to be an extremely effective component of the NSW Shark Management Program. Just this year we conducted more than 100,000 flights and identified and prevented over 2000 sharks interacting with swimmers and surfers.”
For more information on drone surveillance locations and times of operation click here.
Tuesday 30 June 2026