Tenders to operate the council’s coastal aerial surveillance services closed last week, with the successful applicant expected to be announced shortly. The chosen contractor will take to the sky almost immediately.

According to the council’s tender documents, the successful tenderer will carry out aerial patrols of the Wollongong LGA’s coastline on weekends for two seasons – until April and then again from December 2019 until April 2020.

All aerial surveillance would be carried out at an altitude of 500 feet and at 100 knots ground-speed.

The aircraft used will be required to follow the contour of the coast between Stanwell Park and Windang, to ensure a minimum 300-metre wide survey area.

The documents state northbound flights will be flown 300 metres seaward of the surf back line. Southbound patrols will be done above the beach “to enable the observer to search from the breakers out to sea, where possible/permitted”.

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Should a shark be spotted by the observer onboard the aircraft, it would be the pilot’s responsibility to immediately notify the council’s lifeguard supervisor via radio or mobile phone.

Alongside alerting beachgoers of potential dangers posed by sharks, the role of the aerial patrol contractor also extends to monitoring marine wildlife.

According to the documents, each marine wildlife sighting would be documented – including the type of animal, its location, size and which direction it was swimming.

The aircraft could also be called out to provide aerial support in the event a shark is spotted by a council lifeguard or volunteer surf lifesaver. If so, the contractor would have to respond within 15 minutes of being notified.

A spokesman said the council had not yet assessed the aerial patrol tenders and therefore it was too early to disclose how many applications had been received.