Despite lengthy repairs that took nine months, South Australia’s only Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) wave buoy is out of commission for the third time in less than two years.
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy off Kangaroo Island stopped transmitting data on May 30 during a stormy weekend.
A BOM spokesperson said technicians would determine the cause of the failure “once the buoy is recovered”.
“Timing of recovery will depend on factors such as a period of safe weather conditions.“
The buoy transmits data, including swell direction, period and wave height, which professional shellfish divers, fishers, surfers and oceanographers rely on.
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy stopped transmitting data on May 30. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)
But troubles for the wave buoy began in August 2024 when it started transmitting erroneous data. It was taken offline in September that year, but BOM then took nine months to get it back online.
“One of the parts for the replacement system is a specialist mooring sourced from Canada, which the bureau understands experienced a supply issue and has recently been resolved,” a BOM spokesperson said during the lengthy repairs.
The fix only lasted five months when a “mooring failure” caused it to break free and wash up on Kangaroo Island, putting it out of commission for about six weeks from November 2025.
A BOM spokesperson said it was anticipated the buoy would now return to service within three to six weeks, “however, this will be dependent on the cause of the outage and available parts”.
Putting ‘lives in danger’
SA Professional Fishers Association chairperson Ben Barnes is a fifth-generation Spencer Gulf fisher.
He said most fishers in the industry used modern technology through apps on their phones to gauge conditions such as swell direction, period and wave size, wind speed and direction, and tide.
The buoy is considered critical by professional abalone divers. (Supplied: Instagram/Polaccopaul)
He said the apps compiled data from technology, including the Bureau of Meteorology wave buoy, and if “something’s not working, it puts lives in danger”.
“Basically, it needs to be working, and if it’s not, that needs to be made a lot more public so people don’t rely on false information,” Mr Barnes said.
Even if the buoy was not transmitting data at all, he said, “that puts people’s lives at risk too”.
“They’ll say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing there, so we’ll just go fishing anyway,'” Mr Barnes said.
“All our industry members rely on technologies, and it’s not just the buoy, it’s the likes of mobile phone services. It’s everything.
“We want to ensure fishers get back home to their families safe.”
The Cape du Couedic wave buoy sits off the coast of south-west Kangaroo Island. (Supplied: Facebook/Exceptional Kangaroo Island)
The BOM spokesperson said initial assessments indicated that the latest issue was not due to another mooring failure and that the buoy was still in position.
“Wave buoys and associated moorings are designed to operate in extreme ocean conditions,” the spokesperson said.
“However, due to the nature of their operating environment, buoys can still fail.”
Asked how much money had been spent on repairing the Cape de Couedic wave buoy since it first started malfunctioning in August 2024, he said “the cost of repairs will be determined once the buoy is retrieved”.
