The exact location of 40 Australian sharks will soon be monitored online at any time of the day thanks to technology being used by an American outfit currently in the country.
In a first for Australia, scientists will be given greater access to the animal than most other shark tagging and research operations, thanks to OCEARCH Ocean Research.
The company is providing research expeditions on its "mothership" vessel which has the capacity to allow tagging of large sharks by bringing them up on an overwater platform.
Tiger shark tagging expeditions will be carried out in Western Australia and Queensland, with 20 sharks to be tagged with SPOT tags, which allow for the live monitoring to be tagged on each of the ocean voyages.
While it is understood these tags, which allow for 24/7 location monitoring, have been fitted to juvenile sharks in Australia in the past it is believed this could be the first time mature sharks will be monitored with such technology in the country.
And the tracking will not only be accessible to researchers, as real-time tracking becomes freely available to the public online for the first time.
The research work is carried out by local scientists, with the OCEARCH vessel and its crew providing the capacity to catch the sharks.
Scientists from as far away as Tokyo, Argentina and the US will join researchers from the University of Queensland, James Cook University, the University of Western Australia and the University of Tasmania.
Their reserach will focus on conservation and learning more about shark behaviour and their movements to increase safety for those who use marine environments.
The tiger sharks will be caught with hand lines and brought onboard the overwater platform, manoeuvered with a custom lift, then released after researchers have completed their 15 minutes of work.
The shark is then guided by hand in to the water on and off the lift.
James Cook University's Dr Adam Barnett described the OCEARCH expedition as a "great opportunity" to advance shark research.
"We have the chance to tag more tiger sharks with OCEARCH satellite technology over a period of a few weeks than our team has in the past 14 years in Queensland waters," Dr Barnett said.
"Having hands-on, safe access to live mature tiger sharks will be a significant boost to research, allowing us to conduct projects that are undoable in the water, providing data we could never have dreamed of achieving on our own.
"Researchers in this area are crying out for funding so to have access to the resources of this calibre is the best start to the New Year."
OCEARCH, which operates with funding provided by sponsors including Caterpillar, will launch its first expedition from Brisbane at the end of January and the vessel will head to WA in April to begin a Broome to Perth reserach expedition.
Founding chairman and expedition leader, Chris Fischer said "OCEARCH data has influenced policy makers in a number of countries resulting in better outcomes for both shark and humans".
"The new data will help provide Australia with a better understanding of when, how and why tiger sharks forage particularly near public beaches," Mr Fischer said.
"This project is about delivering previously unattainable data to public safety officials and conservation managers.
"It will be a privilege to serve the Australian people and your tiger shark research community. It's our goal to create the most inclusive, open sourced shark project with the Australian people in history."
Mr Fischer said in addition to the SPOT tags, a number of acoustic tags would also be placed on tiger sharks on both expeditions, which will be able to be picked up by other shark monotoring networks such as the existing one in WA.
In recent months the WA government has copped critiscism for using information from the monitoring network to target great white sharks as part of catch and kill orders. And while Mr Fischer said such actions in relation to sharks tagged by OCEARCH would be "concerning" he said his team "would communicate with those public officials to try and avoid any conflict like that".
In previous years two fully funded offers to carry out shark tagging expeditions in WA were turned down by the state government in favour of focusing on the current tagging methods already carried out on behalf of the state government.
Since then, Western Australia launched website SharkSmart which provides details of when sharks are detected near beacons positioned off some metropolitan and regional beaches.
Despite the possible threat of great white sharks to humans being a topic of debate in Australia in recent times, Mr Fischer said the scientists on board will not be able to tag great white sharks because of their protected status.
New South Wales beaches closed for a record long stint last week because of great white shark sightings and the WA government is currently spending more than ever on shark mitigation strategies.
This has been as a result of an unprecedented spate of fatal shark attacks in the past few years involving what have mostly been believed to be great white sharks.
"We have offered assistance to tag great whites and have not heard back from CSIRO or federal government, you have to get approval from CSIRO if you want work with white sharks," he said.
Mr Fischer said those on board would likely have their "hands full" with tiger sharks and turtle research anyway but may also come across bull sharks and mako sharks.
The CSIRO has previously said OCEARCH's protocols for handling great white sharks were "not consistent wih CSIRO protocols" for the species.
Sea Shepherd spokeswoman Natalie Banks said they supported tagging in favour of harsher control methods and would be interested in talking with representatives of OCEARCH when they are in Western Australia in regard to what they do.
