Lennox Head Shark Barrier Nearing Completion

The Aquarius Barrier at Lennox Head has come closer to  completion as work now begins on installing the barrier itself. On Tuesday morning the outer wall (170m long) was pulled out into the ocean and secured to the ground chain by the dive team. The process took most of the day while the divers had to contend with murky water conditions due to disrupted sediment. If weather conditions allow, the Lennox Head shark barrier could be in place as early as this weekend. 

See the story featured on ABC News >>

Most of the installation construction work involved installing the mooring system that holds the shark barrier to the seabed, which has now been fully completed. The team have successfully installed all 21 x 2.4t concrete blocks, 86 x 50kg stingray anchors and 650m of ground chain. 

See the story featured on NBN News >> 

See the story in the Northen Star News >>

Global Marine Enclosures' eco-friendly shark barrier named as part of Mike Baird's $16m shark management strategy

The Aquarius Barrier, the new eco-friendly shark barrier technology developed by Global Marine Enclosures, was selected for trial at Lennox Head in northern New South Wales as part of Mike Baird's $16m Shark Management Strategy managed by the Department of Primary Industries. 

Global Marine Enclosures was awarded the contract for a 650m eco-friendly shark barrier at Seven Mile Beach in Lennox Head following a competitive tender process. The Aquarius Barrier is an eco-friendly swimming enclosure that provides a secure swimming area and doesn't trap or kill marine species. 

The New South Wales shark management strategy is focussed on trialling environmentally friendly alternatives to the net meshing program that has been running in NSW for over five decades. 'Eco-barriers' were identified as a potentially viable alternative but it was noted that as beach conditions are very different in New South Wales, it would be a good idea to test the technology at high energy wave beach locations. 

We are very excited by the possibility of trialling the Aquarius Barrier seeing how our technology responds to the high energy beach environment. We are very confident of it's ability to perform well in the challenging conditions. We look forward to working with the New South Wales DPI and the local Lennox Head community to make the Aquarius Barrier trial a successful project for all involved. 

See the ABC news article of the barrier announcements here >>