Fantastic use of technology to protect both humans and sharks from unwanted interaction
How great would it be if dangerous animals could give everyone a heads up before they headed into an area shared by humans to do their thing?
That’s the question the Surf Life Saving Western Australia program aims to answer with its new social media warning system, which is combining technology and some brilliant thinking to help people share the ocean with sharks while keeping both parties safe.
Government researchers have tagged 338 sharks with acoustic transmitters that monitor where the animals are. When a tagged shark is about half a mile away from a beach, it triggers a computer alert, which tweets out a message on the Surf Life Saving Western Australia Twitter feed. The tweet notes the shark’s size, breed and approximate location.
Talk about crisis management in action! Sharks certainly have a right to their natural habitat (not to mention the fact that it’s virtually impossible to stop them from being there anyways), and people aren’t going to stop surfing anywhere good waves break, so why not use a little tech to help prevent the two from running across each other and having an interaction both parties would rather avoid?
Now all we need to do is for someone to come up with a way to let us tag that coworker who’s always trapping everyone in conversations about their cats…
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy.]