NSW North Coast Shark Meshing Trial Report

Report period: 8 April – 7 May 2017

During the fifth month of the NSW north coast meshing trial, nets were deployed for totals of 22–30 days at five beaches and each checked between 20 and 47 times (Table 1). The contractors are required to check the mesh nets twice a day, but if the weather or bar conditions prevent safe access, then fewer checks are made.

Note:

Data are preliminary and subject to Quality Assurance checks and confirmation of species identities from photos and necropsies.
Asterisks denote data that have been corrected since first publication.

Table 1. The number of days that mesh nets were deployed at each beach, and the number of times each mesh net was checked between April 8 and May 7, 2017
Beach	Number of days nets were deployed	Number of times nets were checked
Seven Mile, Lennox Head	29	30
Sharpes, Ballina	28	26
Shelly, Ballina	22	20
Lighthouse, Ballina	23	20
Main, Evans Head	30	49

In total, 68 individuals from 13 species were caught in the mesh nets. Fifteen animals were released alive, while 53 were found dead and had tissue samples retained for analyses (Table 2).

Table 2. The numbers of each species caught in the mesh nets that were alive and released, or dead at each beach.
Beach	Species	Number alive	Number dead
Seven Mile, Lennox Head	Common Blacktip Shark	0	1
	Bull Shark	1	0
	Great Hammerhead Shark	0	1
	Mackerel tuna	0	3
	Pygmy Devilray	1	8*
	Whitespotted Guitarfish	1	1
	Unidentified tuna	0	1
Sharpes, Ballina	Australian Cownose Ray	1	0
	Common Blacktip Shark	0	3
	Great Hammerhead Shark	0	1
	Greynurse Shark	0	1
	Manta Ray	1	0
	Pygmy Devilray	2	2
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	2
Shelly, Ballina	Common Blacktip Shark	0	1
	Green Turtle	0	1
	Whitespotted Guitarfish	0	1
Lighthouse, Ballina	Australian Cownose Ray	1	0
	Mulloway	0	3
	Pygmy Devilray	1	2
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	2
Main, Evans Head	Common Blacktip Shark	0	1
	Great Hammerhead Shark	0	2
	Pygmy Devilray	4	16
TOTAL		15	53*