Report period: 1 April – 2 May, 2018
Between 1 April and 2 May 2018, nets were deployed for 32 fishing days at five beaches and each checked 17 or 18 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 April and 2 May, 2018.
Method | Beach | Number of days nets were deployed | Number of times nets were checked |
|---|---|---|---|
Nets | Seven Mile, Lennox Head | 32 | 17 |
Sharpes, Ballina | 32 | 17 | |
Shelly, Ballina | 32 | 17 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | 32 | 17 | |
Main, Evans Head | 32 | 18 |
During the 32 fishing days in April and May, a total of 13 individuals from 9 species were caught in the nets (Table 2).
- 4 (31%) were alive.
- 9 (69%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
- ‘Listed Fauna’ caught in April and May included two Great Hammerheads, one Green Turtle, two Indo-Pacific Dolphins, one Leatherback Turtle, one Loggerhead Turtle and two Pygmy Devilrays.
Table 2: The numbers of each species caught in the nets that were alive or dead (and retained) at each beach.
Beach | Species | Number alive | Number dead |
|---|---|---|---|
Seven Mile, Lennox Head | Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 1 |
Sharpes, Ballina | Great Hammerhead | 0 | 1 |
Green Turtle | 0 | 1 | |
Shelly, Ballina | Leatherback Turtle | 0 | 1 |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 1 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | Yellowfin Tuna | 0 | 1 |
Main, Evans Head | Australian Cownose Ray | 1 | 0 |
Great Hammerhead | 0 | 1 | |
Indo-Pacific Dolphin | 0 | 2 | |
Loggerhead Turtle | 1 | 0 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 | |
TOTAL | 4 | 9 |
1 The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.
Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a total of 148 days (not consecutively), catching 145 animals from 17 species, and with an overall survival of 60% (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 | 29 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 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 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Great Hammerhead | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
Green Turtle | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Leatherback Turtle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Loggerhead Turtle | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Manta Ray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 12 |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 8 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 39 | 4 |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Yellowfin Tuna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTAL | 44 | 24 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 87 | 58 |