Western Australia
ContactEcological intelligence for human–shark interaction conditions from Esperance to Gnaraloo. Experimental decision support — not a warning system and not centred on any single beach.
Open-Meteo (marine + weather). Conditions are environmental context for the risk model, not a swim safety certificate. Open-Meteo is a regional centroid, not a beach sensor. Open-Meteo
Coastal state — not a statewide average
Esperance and Gnaraloo do not share a species assemblage, oceanography, or observation network. vShark will not collapse this corridor into one number. Official warnings, where recorded, outrank every model band below.
Confidence is separate from risk. No live shark detections are connected in WA.
Temperate southern hypothesis: white-shark (Carcharodon carcharias) habitat-suitability considerations are expected to weigh more heavily than tropical species. Hypothesis to be tested — not encoded as fact.
Confidence MODERATE
South-western transition hypothesis: still temperate-leaning, with increasing mixed-assemblage uncertainty toward Cape Naturaliste. Hypothesis to be tested.
Confidence MODERATE
Embayment / estuary-adjacent hypothesis: bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) share may rise relative to open-coast temperate weightings. Hypothesis to be tested.
Confidence MODERATE
Mixed assemblage / transition hypothesis for the Perth metropolitan coast. Do not treat any single species as dominant without evidence.
Confidence MODERATE
Mid-west transition hypothesis: tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) relevance is expected to increase relative to the south coast. Hypothesis to be tested.
Confidence MODERATE
Subtropical / tropical western hypothesis: tiger and other warm-water species are expected to weigh more than on the south coast. Hypothesis to be tested — not a claim of current dominance.
Confidence MODERATE
Data coverage
Where vShark knows little is as important as where it knows more. Missing coverage does not mean low risk.
- Shark observation coverageNONE
SharkSmart WA / DPIRD detections are not machine-connected. No live tagged detections in vShark.
- Ocean coverageMODERATE
Open-Meteo marine SST and wave height at a regional centroid — not a beach sensor.
- Weather coverageMODERATE
Open-Meteo forecast weather at a regional centroid.
- Ecology coverageLOW
No live prey, whale, seal or productivity feed. Seasonal notes are hypotheses or climatology.
- Human exposure coverageLOW
Estimated from popularity class, weekday/weekend and swell. Not a head-count.
- Sensor coverageNONE
No acoustic, camera, drone or eDNA adapters connected.
- Historical coverageLOW
Incident reconstructions are added as frozen validation cases, not a complete history.
What this is not
- Not a shark-attack predictor and not a SharkSmart replacement
- Not centred on Sorrento — the corridor is Esperance to Gnaraloo
- No invented sightings; detections remain unconnected until an authorised feed exists
- Official closures and warnings always outrank vShark modelling