New sonar technology capable of detecting sharks is being trialled off Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach in a bid to reduce shark attacks.
The Clever Buoy sits about 500 metres offshore and sends an alert to lifeguards on the beach when a large, swimming object is identified.
The Australian technology was launched on Monday at Bondi Beach where it will be trialled over the next month.
"We think that this has the potential to be the Holy Grail when it comes to reducing the risk for beachgoers in NSW," Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair told reporters on Monday.
It's designed to detect self-propelled shapes greater than two metres in length and then analyses the object's swim pattern to figure out if it's a shark.
"We're very confident in the technology, but obviously trying it in a real-life situation where we're liaising with the guys in the tower 24 hours a day," Craig Anderson from Shark Mitigation Systems told reporters on Monday.
In addition, listening stations that track tagged sharks will be set up along the NSW north and mid-north coast this week, including Yamba, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie.
There were 18 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia in 2015, with 12 in NSW and one fatality, according to The International Shark Attack File, an annual worldwide study collated in the US.
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