The New South Wales Government says it will spend $16 million to help prevent shark attacks on the state’s coastline.

The announcement is designed to restore the confidence of beachgoers this summer, following a spate of shark attacks.

There have been 13 shark attacks, including a fatality, in New South Wales so far this year.

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Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said there would be an increase of aerial surveillance on beaches and a trial of new technology.

The plan includes the use of drones, in-water sonar to track shark movements, and an app that can be used to track them in real-time.

He said another part of the strategy would be to install physical barriers along the coast.

“The NSW coast has over 2000 kilometres of beach line and we know that what may work in Bega may not work in Ballina,” he said.

“Part of this trial will be to put these barriers into different beaches along the NSW coast to see how they operate.

“Once we know what they can stand, then we’ll be looking to hopefully expand those into the future.”

Mr Blair said the five-year strategy was a world first, developed after a summit of experts was convened in Sydney last month.

“This is a historic moment,” he said.

“We are leading the world in New South Wales when it comes to how we interact with sharks and how we’ve utilised a range of technologies to reduce that risk for our beachgoers.”

North Coast beachgoers spooked after attacks

Shark activity has been particularly high along the New South Wales north coast this year.

The Minister said some of the strategies will be specific to that area to restore confidence in the tourism industry.

“We’ve taken a shark meeting to the north coast last week,” he said.

“We heard at that meeting anecdotal evidence that people have been shying away from going into the beach. We want to bring that confidence back to those areas.”

Mr Blair said the government would continue to work with scientists to find solutions.

“We don’t cull sharks in New South Wales,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve gone for a look into some of the new technologies and other suites of measures we can implement and that’s what this response is about. It’s been led by our scientists.”