Sharks not overlooked in WA budget

More than $1.5 million will be spent on shark detection and mitigation by the West Australian government in its budget.

Fisheries minister Joe Francis said on Monday $495,000 would be spent on replacing up to 18 shark receivers off the WA coast, while $400,000 would be allocated for two new beach enclosures in Perth's north.

"People want to feel safe when they swim, it's a massive coastline in WA, we can't protect everyone everywhere, but we can start looking at things like the beach enclosures that we're rolling out," Mr Francis said.

The new shark barriers will be installed at Quinns Rocks and Sorrento, while three others in Dunsborough, Albany and Busselton have already been built.

The supply, installation and maintenance of the Sorrento shark barrier will cost $910,000 with the City of Joondalup paying for most of it.

The $1.54 million also provides funding for continued shark tagging and the WA government's SharkSmart website, which details the latest sightings and alerts.

More than 860 sharks have been tagged in waters off WA, with 220 recorded white sharks among them.

Opposition fisheries spokesman Dave Kelly criticised the government's approach to shark mitigation, saying it ignores several new technologies.

"The Liberals' policy is still centred on trying to catch and kill sharks that they deem dangerous," he said.

"It is disappointing today's announcement didn't even mention supporting new technologies like Shark Shield or Clever Buoy."

Mr Kelly said some of the government's 2016/17 funding was made up from cuts from the shark monitoring network last year.