Want to see where our sharks are?

Australians might soon be able to go to the beach knowing, with some certainty, if there are Tiger Sharks nearby, thanks to a new tagging operation that shows their realtime movements.

For years mature adult sharks have been hard to find and even harder to track, but US outfit OCEARCH have been working to change that by tagging and tracking sharks that can be viewed in real time on the internet.

Recently they came to Far North Queensland to begin their tagging operation here and potentially save Australian lives.

Chris Fischer, the skipper of the OCEARCH vessel said what was once a crab-catching ship is now a highly-tuned floating laboratory and his team has been finding, tagging and tracking the movement Great Whites all over the world.

"Really what we’re doing is we’re giving scientists around the world access they’ve never had before to do research they’ve never been able to do," Fischer said.

"I see the tracks off Africa, I see tracks off the east coast of the US, I know the tracks of the west coast of Central America and then there’s this great big hole on this global map, and it’s down under."

Great White Sharks are a protected species in Australia and despite offers to assist the CSIRO with its efforts to track them, OCEARCH has been only allowed to tag Tiger Sharks in our waters.

This operation took place around a group near Mackay in Queensland and accompanying the team was Sam Young, the brother of shark-attack victim Zac who died after losing both his legs to a Tiger Shark in November 2013.

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"My last memory of Zac was two days before he passed away and we were out for a night and I dropped him off home and he turned around and said 'I love you bro,' and, you know, it’s a big thing for your younger brother to say that to you," Sam told reporter Alex Cullen.

"He really had a soft heart so it’s a great memory to be left with."

Sam not only joined the expedition to know more about the animals but he also had the incredible opportunity to name one.

He chose 'Zacharia', after his brother.

During the $50,000-a-day trip, OCEARCH also tagged a 3-and-a-half-metre female named Jedda, one off the coast of Maroochydore, named Maroocy, a male named Sydney and four others.

All of these animals can be seen by anyone at any time on the OCEARCH shark tracker and by tracking few, these scientists will get to know the whereabouts of many.

"They have not only an amazing capacity to navigate but they have some sort of internal calendar that is super accurate. So once you get your thumb on the pulse of that, you know where and when they are and where and when they are not."

While tracking great white sharks would make this program more inclusive, currently the CSIRO is the only body allowed to touch Great Whites in Australia.

"CSIRO is aware of the offer of logistic support from OCEARCH to tag and track white sharks, however, such studies have already been extensively undertaken in Australian waters. There have been over 250 white sharks … fitted with electronic tracking tags in Australia."

"That number continues to grow through existing research programs."

Their work, however, is not designed to increase safety for humans in the water.

"CSIRO does not research shark attacks."

"Some of this information may be useful for assessing the risk of shark-human interactions or indeed may assist in reducing the risk of shark attack. However, that is not the primary goal."

Chris Fischer says the refusal of their assistance by the CSIRO is difficult for their team to understand professionally and personally.

"Down here families are losing loved ones and so when you feel like you have an opportunity to maybe help that and you can’t, then you feel helpless and that’s a really uncomfortable spot for me."

To find out more about OCEARCH and to view the shark tracker, visit their website here.