Shark-Tracking Website Launches With Hopes For Improved Public Safety

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Earlier this month, lifeguards set out three audio receivers in Corona del Mar, at the Balboa Pier and at the Newport Pier to track the movements of sharks along the coast.

The lifeguards have gone back every week to check the receivers and have posted their findings and confirmed shark sightings on a website that launched Friday.

The beacon/receiver picks up sound frequencies, and then a plug-in Bluetooth device wirelessly transmits the data into a computer, and the shark's transponder number pops up.

It is sent to marine biologist Chris Lowe at the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, and then he identifies the tagged shark.

The lifeguards are hopeful this information can lead to a better spread of information.