SHARKS SHOW UP WHERE OFFICIAL TRACKERS CAN'T SEE THEM: HERE'S HOW YOU CAN FIGHT BACK

Jeni O'Dowd
2 hours ago
3 min read

Smiling woman in a red and blue rash guard paddles a surfboard on calm ocean waves under a clear blue sky. — Sarah Beardmore, co-founder of Dorsal

Summer is coming, the beaches are calling, and Aussies are about to head into the water with a serious information gap staring them down.

According to Sarah Beardmore, co-founder of Dorsal, Australia's largest shark sighting platform, a string of serious shark sightings has slipped through the cracks of official shark monitoring programs in recent weeks: sightings that happened outside the hours, or outside the states where those programs operate.

"Australians are heading into the water this summer without the full picture, and that has to change," Beardmore says.

It's not that sharks are suddenly everywhere. It's that the people watching the water — surfers, swimmers, and now drone operators — often know more than official channels can capture in real time.

Meet the "Waze of the Ocean"

Since launching in 2015, Dorsal has built a reputation as the go-to shark sighting app for anyone who spends time in Australian waters, racking up more than half a million downloads and a fiercely engaged community of ocean lovers.

Beardmore's ambition for the platform is bold but simple: to become the "Waze of the ocean."

"Waze proved that when you get enough people watching and reporting in real-time, you build something more responsive than any centralised system could be on its own," she says.

"That's the model for Dorsal."

With 750,000 users now verifying public shark sightings, Dorsal has quietly become one of the most-watched safety tools for coastal communities — sitting alongside official programs rather than trying to replace them.

Where Official Shark Programs Fall Short

NSW's Shark Management Program is one of the most established of its kind in the world, and Beardmore is quick to credit it.

But even the best-resourced programs are bound by set hours and set locations — largely confined to NSW and WA. States like Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have no official public shark sighting platform at all.

That's the gap Dorsal was built to close.

"The public, as well as drone operators, are already watching the beaches official programs can't reach, and after they have clocked off," Beardmore says. "That information shouldn't go to waste."

Person in a beanie stands on a beach at sunset, looking at a phone map as waves roll in under an orange sky.

Community Ownership Is the Next Wave

Now Dorsal is inviting its community to become co-owners.

The platform has opened an equity crowdfunding raise on Birchal, giving the ocean-going public — surfers, swimmers, divers and everyday beachgoers — the chance to help shape its future.

It's a fitting next step for a platform built on shared information.

Beardmore points to Waze's own trajectory as inspiration: the traffic app grew to more than 100 million users before Google acquired it for $1.3 billion in 2013.

Dorsal's founders believe real-time, community-powered shark intelligence could follow a similar curve — with every new user making the platform smarter and safer for everyone in the water.

New Tech Just in Time for Summer

Dorsal is rolling out two major upgrades ahead of peak beach season:

Smartwatch alerts: Swimmers and surfers wearing a Dorsal-enabled smartwatch will be notified the moment a nearby sighting is confirmed, including during early morning and evening sessions that fall outside standard patrol hours.

Drone reporting: Recreational drone operators will soon be able to report sightings directly from their controller or phone, a first for any shark reporting platform in Australia.

Every report goes through a strict verification process before it's published, checking that the sighting is genuine and that the accompanying image hasn't already appeared online or been generated by AI.

"At Dorsal, verification is everything," Beardmore says. "Our job is to give people trusted, real-time information so they can make their own decision about whether to stay in the water or get out."

The Numbers Behind the Movement

Dorsal's growth over the past decade tells its own story: 627,000 social followers, 255,000 email subscribers, and 150 million views across its Facebook channels in 2025 alone.

Over the 2025/26 summer, it was the second most downloaded free sports app in Australia — beaten only by the Australian Open.

For $9.99 a year, members get an ad-free experience, unlocked photo and video content on reports, and personalised alerts for beaches within a chosen radius.