Report period: 1–31 March, 2018
During March 2018, nets were deployed for 28 fishing days1 at five beaches and each checked 14 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 March, 2018.
Method | Beach | Number of days nets were deployed | Number of times nets were checked |
|---|---|---|---|
Nets | Seven Mile, Lennox Head | 28 | 14 |
Sharpes, Ballina | 28 | 14 | |
Shelly, Ballina | 28 | 14 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | 28 | 14 | |
Main, Evans Head | 28 | 14 |
1 The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.
During the 28 fishing days in March, a total of 22 individuals from six species were caught in the nets (Table 2).
- 12 (55%) were released alive.
- 10 (45%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
- ‘Listed Fauna’ caught in March were three Great Hammerheads.
Table 2: The numbers of each species caught in the nets that were alive and released, or dead and retained at each beach.
Beach | Species | Number alive | Number dead |
|---|---|---|---|
Seven Mile, Lennox Head | Whitespotted Guitarfish | 0 | 1 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 2 | 0 | |
Sharpes, Ballina | Common Blacktip Shark | 0 | 1 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 3 | 0 | |
Shelly, Ballina | Common Blacktip Shark | 0 | 3 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | Great Hammerhead | 0 | 1 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 2 | 1 | |
Main, Evans Head | Great Hammerhead | 0 | 2 |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 1 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 3 | 0 | |
Australian Cownose Ray | 1 | 0 | |
TOTAL | 12 | 10 |
Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a total of 116 days (not consecutively), catching 132 animals from 15 species, with an overall survival of 63% (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 | 28 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 9 |
Bull Shark | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Common Blacktip Shark | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Common Dolphin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Great Hammerhead | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
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 |
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Loggerhead Turtle | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Manta Ray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 10 |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 7 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 4 |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
TOTAL | 41 | 21 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 83 | 49 |