Second NSW North Coast Shark Meshing Trial

Report period: 1 December – 31 December 2017

Note: All data are preliminary and subject to quality assurance checks and confirmation of species identities from photos and necropsies. Asterisks will be used to denote data that have been corrected since first publication.

During December 2017, nets were deployed for 31 fishing days¹ at five beaches and each checked 18–20 times (Table 1). Contractors and trained DPI observers check the nets once every 12–48 hours—depending on weather conditions.

Table 1. The number of days that nets were deployed at each beach, and the number of times nets were checked between 1 and 31 December, 2017.
Method	Beach	Number of days net deployed	Number of times net checked
Nets	Seven Mile, Lennox Head	31	19
	Sharpes, Ballina	31	19
	Shelly, Ballina	31	19
	Lighthouse, Ballina	31	20
	Main, Evans Head	31	18

¹The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.

During the 31 fishing days in December, a total of 36 individuals from ten species were caught in the nets (Table 2).

20 (56%) were released alive.
16 (44%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
‘Listed Fauna’ caught in December were five Pygmy Devilrays, two Loggerhead Turtles, one Hawksbill Turtle, one Green Turtle, one Greynurse Shark and one Manta Ray.

Table 2. The numbers of each species caught in the mesh nets that were alive and released, or dead and retained at each beach.
Beach	Species	Number alive	Number dead
Seven Mile, Lennox Head	Australian Cownose Ray	3	0
	Common Blacktip Shark	0	1
	Pygmy Devilray	1	3
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	0
Sharpes, Ballina	Common Blacktip Shark	1	0
	Hawksbill Turtle	0	1
	Pygmy Devilray	0	1
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	0
Shelly, Ballina	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	0
Lighthouse, Ballina	Loggerhead Turtle	2	0
Main, Evans Head	Australian Cownose Ray	8	7
	Common Blacktip Shark	0	1
	Green Turtle	0	1
	Greynurse Shark	1	0
	Manta Ray	1	0
	Spinner Shark	0	1
TOTAL		20	16

Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a cumulative total of 38 days, catching 54 animals from 12 species and with an overall survival of 56% (Table 3).

Table 3. The species caught in the nets and the total numbers that were alive and released, or dead and retained at each beach since the second trial began on 23 November, 2017
	Main Beach, Evans Head		Lighthouse Beach, Ballina		Shelly Beach, Ballina		Sharpes Beach, Ballina		Seven Mile Beach, Lennox Head		Total
Species	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead
Australian Cownose Ray	14	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	18	7
Bull Shark	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Common Blacktip Shark	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	3
Great Hammerhead	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Green Turtle	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Greynurse Shark	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Hawksbill Turtle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Loggerhead Turtle	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Manta Ray	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Pygmy Devilray	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	2	9
Spinner Shark	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Whitespotted Eagle Ray	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	4	0
TOTAL	16	11	6	0	1	0	2	2	5	11	30	24