A Kiama drone operator has told of his urgent efforts to raise the alarm after a shark made an unexpected appearance in his video, coming disturbingly close to unaware surfers.
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David Finlay visited Surf Beach about 5pm Monday to test the capabilities of his new drone.
The machine had locked onto a particular surfer and was “almost flying itself” when Mr Finlay noticed a dark grey figure in the frame. His footage captures the moment he makes the realisation.
“Holy – there’s a shark out there,” he can be heard telling a bystander. “There’s a shark right under the surfers. You got a mobile phone?”
The camera goes momentarily still as he takes control of the drone, which was flying about 20 metres off-shore, about 300 metres from where he was standing. Then he ran.
“I could see [the shark] with my own eyes, circling the area,” he said.
“That was the first thing I thought about was, ‘how can I let these guys know?’
“I ran down the beach and tried to find a lifeguard, but of course it was after lifeguard hours.
“I let some of the surfers know who were coming out of the water. But I was reassured by the time I got down there. I’d monitored the shark the whole time I’d been running, and it continued to move away from the surfers.”
Mr Finlay, best known as an amateur astronomer, shares his Clear Skies TV video work to YouTube.
Commentators have since told him the shark was likely a grey nurse and unlikely to attack.
Mr Finlay acknowledges many surfers would rather not know how close they come to the ocean’s apex predators. But if surveillance is to occur, drone technology undoubtedly has a role to play, he says.
“I think a lot has been done already down in Kiama in terms of shark safety, especially after Brett [Connellan] got attacked at Bombo Beach last year,” he said.
“There’s a shark buoy that monitors that area around Surf and Kendalls beaches, and yet the shark warning never went off [Monday evening].
“It shows the value of having that aerial footage. It’s able to peer through the glare of the water. It’s a good use for [the technology].”