A WA company has won an international design award for the Quinns Beach shark barrier.
Global Marine Enclosures won an award for design excellence at the Good Design Awards in Sydney on July 11 for their Aquarius Gen 2 Shark Barrier Technology currently installed in Mindarie.
The jury said the Aquarius shark barrier was “a well resolved improvement that addresses concerns about shark nets” and “a good example of incremental innovation with a well resolved outcome”.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“The mobility of the product and the ability to stretch and bend is an innovation,” it said.
The Good Design Awards attracted a record number of submissions with almost 700 design projects evaluated in this year’s international design awards.
“Receiving a Good Design Award at this level is a significant achievement given the very high calibre of entries received this year,” Good Design Australia chief executive Brandon Gien said.
“It represents the hard work and dedication towards an innovative outcome that will ultimately improve our quality of life.
“This project showcases the brilliance of design and the potential it has to improve our world.”
The Gen 2 enclosure was installed at Quinns Beach on February 1 after the original barrier was damaged in winter storms in 2018, and will be removed between April and October each year to avoid storm damage.
A Global Marine Enclosures spokeswoman said there were still questions about how a shark got inside the barrier on February 20.
As reported at the time, the barrier was opened, allowing the shark to swim out, and no damage was found.
The spokeswoman said the technology had only been installed at Quinns Beach so far, and there were other projects in the pipeline.