Manly, North Narrabeen: Swimmers warned after shark sightings on Sydney’s northern beaches

Swimmers in Sydney’s northern beaches have been warned to exercise caution after two sharks were reported in separate sightings.

Several beaches along a stretch of coastline between Manly and North Narrabeen were closed to the public on Saturday after the sightings and reopened that afternoon.

According to Marine Rescue Sydney, a vessel about 200m off North Narrabeen reported seeing a shark longer than 6m.

Similarly the Department of Primary Industries reported a tagged tiger shark was detected by the North Steyne receiver off Manly beach at 12.39pm.

The shark had last been detected three days earlier by the Soldiers Beach receiver.

Beaches were reopened by 2pm due to no further sightings, with swimmers urged to use patrolled beaches and exercise caution.

As part of standard practice, lifeguards shutter beaches after a shark sighting and deploy jetskis to patrol the waters, according to the Northern Beaches Council.

If there are no further alerts or sightings, the beaches are reopened after an hour.

The sightings come a month after Dee Why surfer Mercury Psillakis was killed in a fatal attack on September 6.

The 57-year-old suffered critical injuries and was pulled from the surf by other surfers but could not be saved.

Long Reef and Dee Why beaches were closed for three days by the Northern Beaches Council as authorities patrolled the area.

“We have erred on the side of caution to keep beaches closed and our teams will remain vigilant in the days and weeks ahead,” Mayor Sue Heins said.

“While the debate about shark nets is inevitable following the tragedy, our focus remains on supporting our community who are still coming to terms with it.”