At a seaside café near Sydney’s iconic Manly beach, Mrudul ‘Mike’ Vasavada is tracking shark movements on his mobile phone.
“There’s a two-metre bull shark at Tallows beach, Byron Bay, and it is quite close to the beach,” he says, looking at a map on the screen covered in icons.
“The alerts show the size of the shark, and which inlet or beach it is closest to.”
It’s part of the free NSW government SharkSmart app, which Vasavada designed and manages.
Mrudul ‘Mike’ Vasavada designed the free SharkSmart app. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
Recent rise in shark attacks
The platform tracks tagged sharks using drone surveillance and shark listening stations along the NSW coast.
So far this year, three fatal shark attacks have occurred in Australian waters and scientists say the number of close encounters is rising.
Marcel Green, NSW Shark Management program leader says: “There are more people in the water over summer and autumn, so there’s an increased potential for interactions.”
Among recent fatalities, a 17-year-old girl after being bitten at Bribie Island, north of Brisbane. New data shows bull sharks are booming in Queensland waters.
Climate change may be one reason for the recent increase in shark attacks. As sea temperatures rise, bull sharks are active and are moving south.
Australia’s waters were the warmest on record last summer. Around the NSW and Western Australia coastlines, sea temperatures were recorded at 3 degrees above average.
With more people swimming in these warmer waters, experts say shark contact is inevitable.
“Nationwide, we have seen an increase in incidents for the last 20 to 30 years and that’s really why NSW has a shark management program,” Green says.
Between 2000 and 2022, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported almost 500 shark attacks in Australian waters and most of those were along the coast.
“We are lucky so far in NSW in 2025 that we have not had any incidents. But the data [showing a rise in attacks] is out there,” Green says.
Tracking the sharks that call Australia home
Australian waters are home to around 180 shark species, but most bites are from white, bull or tiger sharks.
These are key species tracked by SharkSmart.
“NSW has tagged around 3,000 sharks so far, and we collect data from 305 smart drum lines, 51 shark nets, 50 drones, and the 37 tagged shark listening stations,” Green says.
When a tagged shark swims within 500 metres of a listening station, a signal is sent to the platform.
“If we catch a target shark on the smart drum line and it is then tagged and released, SharkSmart users get an alert through the app,” Green says.
“For instance, it might say a white shark was just tagged and released at a certain beach.”
SharkSmart is active in NSW but may soon be deployed in other states including Queensland, where fishers and tourist operators are concerned about the rise in bull shark numbers.
“If you want to go for a swim, you want to be cautious and SharkSmart allows you to see if there is an alert or a shark incident that’s happened,” Vasavada says.
“So, we have keen interest from states where shark attacks are prevalent.”
Sharks ‘doing the job nature intended’
Despite the threat to humans, scientists say sharks play a vital role in the marine environment and deserve our respect.
Aquatic ecologist Doug Westhorpe says: “They are apex predators, they’re important for the whole ecosystem to function properly.
“Sharks are scavengers, they get rid of things that are rotting away and it’s their habitat so we need to respect that when we go into the ocean.”
It is a view shared by Valerie Taylor, an Australian conservationist who spent her career diving with sharks — including great whites.
“Sharks are just doing the job nature intended. They’re cleaning up the old, unfit and unwary, they’re keeping the species strong,” Taylor says.
Conservationist Valerie Taylor wants people to be more shark aware. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
A known critic of shark nets, Taylor wants people to be more shark aware.
“If we get in their way and they don’t like it, that’s our decision. We put ourselves there,” she says.
Since it first started in 2009, Vasavada says SharkSmart has sent almost 2.5 billion shark notifications to registered users.
“Each month, the platform sends out approximately 80 million push notifications and so far we have 300,000 users which is pretty significant,” he says.
“It is all about communicating ways that you can minimise your risk of a shark interaction while you are in the water.”
Developing SharkSmart
Helping people to avoid contact with sharks is one reason Vasavada developed SharkSmart, after migrating from India as a student in 1999.
Like many migrants, Vasavada remains cautious about Australia’s powerful marine predators.
“People have a natural fear of sharks, and as somebody who migrated to Australia, I look at the water and I think there must be sharks out here,” he says.
“Of course, when you are living overseas people are always talking about sharks in Australia, as well.”
Vasavada ran his own business in Bengaluru, in southern India, before migrating, but says coming here as a student wasn’t easy.
“I had to literally pledge my wife’s jewellery to buy a flight ticket out here. I had $300 when I landed in Australia and had no contacts or clue where I was going,” he recalls.
“The early years were tough, as an international student I could only work 20 hours a week and I lived in an old apartment with five others. When we were finally kicked out of that apartment, my wife and I had no place to go!”
Mrudul Vasavada software business Mobiddiction has 2,000 clients worldwide. Source: Supplied / Mobiddiction
More than 25 years later, Vasavada’s software business Mobiddiction has 2,000 clients worldwide and runs 40 programs, including a whale watching app.
“It has around 10,000 users who log in their whale sightings from tours. So, if you go in, it tells you the exact location of the whales’ last sighting. And that helps plan a whale watch journey,” he says.
SharkSmart is used by surf lifesavers both at the beach and at their headquarters at Sydney’s northern suburb of Belrose, according to Green.
“The life savers are able to communicate with the app, from areas that might suddenly have an increase in shark activity,” he says.
“The life savers may either close that part of the beach or warn swimmers that more sharks are present within the area of the tag shark listening station or that a shark was just released from the smart drum lines.”
Australian waters have approximately 180 shark species, with the majority of bites occurring from white, bull, or tiger sharks. Source: AAP
The NSW beaches with most sharks detected are in Yamba and Evans Head on the far north coast and in Hawks Nest which is three hours drive north of Sydney, Green says.
Vasavada is pleased his online service is helping to protect lives.
“I feel really proud that we’ve done all this through the years, although it has not been easy, by any means.
“As a first generation migrant, I feel I have learned a lot and after going through initial struggles, the main thing I learned was to fight.
“That, and to never give up, because failure doesn’t exist.”
This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Gujarati
