A new species of shark is lurking in the waters near Cockle Bay Wharf, feasting on plastics, metal and floating debris.
WasteShark, a 1.5-metre aquadrone that cleans litter from the sea, has started removing plastics from Cockle Bay in Sydney Harbour.
The aquadrone can chomp up to 160kg of plastics, vegetation, floating debris, chemicals, marine fuels and oils in one sitting.
Developed in the Netherlands, the battery-powered drone travels through enclosed waters, either autonomously or via remote control, and sweeps up the litter.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes says WasteShark also collects data on water quality and sends the information back to a central command via the cloud.
"Along with cleaning our waters, the WasteShark will collect and store valuable data on water quality," he said. "This is an environmentally-friendly solution to cleaning our waterways."
