DURING a summer for shark sightings which has been described as like a scene out of the movie Jaws, the Bendigo Bank Aerial Patrol is again proving its worth.

Our beaches may not have seen the monster great whites that Newcastle did, but Shellharbour and Kiama beaches had to be closed earlier this month due to sightings, Werri Beach was closed on the weekend and a teenager with a GoPro was attacked by a shark at Mollymook.

The volunteer aerial patrol organisation is the only dedicated patrol in Australia and scours from Stanwell Park to Mollymook on weekends and public holidays from the October long weekend through summer.

In a sign the State Government is taking the presence of sharks seriously, on the weekend Premier Mike Baird made his first election commitment - to improved public shark protection.

Mr Baird's has pledged $100,000 for a trial of cutting edge sonar detecting technology at popular NSW beaches if the Liberal and Nationals government is re-elected in March.

Patrol general manager Harry Mitchell confirmed they had seen more sharks this year.

"From mid December through to about a week-and-a-half ago we've definitely seen sharks at a higher frequency than we have for that same period in previous years," he said.

"It's not uncommon for us to see big sharks, 3 or 4 metres long, in the first row of breakers," he said.

" Not long ago we saw a group of people swimming at Hyam's Beach about 25 metres from a group of sharks.

"We let the lifeguards and the authorities know when we see a shark, but we let them know the other signs as well, recently we had a huge school of fish in the surf zone at Port Kembla and nearby there was a dead seal as well as an injured seal."

While the patrol has proved to be an effective tool in helping to keep beaches safe for its more than 50 years of operation, the organisation is about to trial new some new technology to increase its capabilities.

Mr Mitchell said the new technology would be of great benefit.

"We're looking at trialling a system where we'll have cameras mounted to the planes and vision from those cameras will be sent in real time to lifeguards and other authorities.

"That means they'll be able to see things like where a shark is, where the rips are or what conditions are like on the rock platforms where people fish and that should make things a lot safer."

He said due to poor weather at the start of the season patrols got off to a late start, but that allowed the organisation to patrol the coast during some of the busier periods.

"At the start of the season we had a lot of weather that meant we weren't going up, but that's meant that we've been able to save that financial energy and from about mid December we've been going up every day," he said.

"It's something we trialled a few years ago and with it being school holidays and the busiest time of year it's something the lifeguards really appreciate."

With their increased patrols through the peak season, Mr Mitchell said the patrols have noticed an increase in the amount of people swimming at unpatrolled beaches.

He said if it were not for the Patrol, no one would know of these people's presence.

"It's not just swimmers either, we keep an eye out for rock fishermen or people picnicking in dangerous areas, a lot of the people who come to the area are unfamiliar with the conditions and we want to make sure the authorities know as much as possible about what's going on."