Fears more tourists will drown without Penguin Island ferry as jetty remains out of operation

There are fears that it’s only a matter of time before tragedy strikes again off Shoalwater with the Penguin Island ferry stranded.

This is the second year that sand build-up at the Penguin Island jetty has prevented the ferry from making the short, shallow crossing to the island.

And without the ferry, more locals and tourists will be tempted to walk to the island via a dangerous sandbar.

In 2015, the State Government paid out $400,000 to the widows of two men who drowned after being swept from the sandbar trying to cross to the island.

An inquest found the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions could have acted promptly twice to close the sandbar that day and that the deaths were avoidable.

A current warning on the Department’s Explore Parks WA reads: “Do not walk