The brother of shark attack victim Mercury Psillakis, Mike Psillakis, has called on the Minns government to urgently deploy drones at all Sydney beaches year-round following a fatal incident at Coogee.
Psillakis said he fears further deaths will occur without expanded surveillance, arguing drones should operate “from sunlight to sunset seven days a week, 365 days a year.”
“We can’t afford to have any more attacks or lives lost,” he said.
“They (drones) need to be on every city beach, even in unpatrolled times, so warnings can be triggered a lot earlier. We need to protect human life, that’s the number one priority.”
Mercury Psillakis, 56, was killed by a great white shark at Long Reef Beach in Sydney’s north in September.
Psillakis said recent incidents showed the need for wider coverage, noting drones were operating at 14 locations on Saturday but not at Coogee. He also warned repeated attacks could harm tourism.
“In recent months there has been a spate of attacks. This doesn’t just affect surfers or swimmers, it impacts Sydney tourism,” he said. “We can’t afford for this to happen again.”
He added: “Install the drones and operate them at every popular city beaches … or the attacks will keep occurring and it’s a trend that won’t go away. The whites are coming up now and this is the second white attack in Sydney within a year. It’s just ridiculous.”
Source: Daily Telegraph.
