Operation
During October 2019, 10 SMART drumlines were deployed for 27 days. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 7:24h to 11:48h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 10:14h.
Catch
During October 2019, 5 target sharks were caught (Table 1): 4 White Sharks at Stockton Beach and 1 at Nobbys Beach. Two non-target animals were caught including two Bronze Whalers at Merewether Beach (Table 1). All animals were released alive.
Comments
When the contractor responded to three alerts that had no catch, they found that one hook had no bait remaining and two hooks had 100% of the bait remaining.
One SMART drumline failed to set off an alert on 12 October 2019. When the contractor arrived at the drumline for retrieval at the end of the day, a White Shark was found alive on the line, which was tagged and released immediately (Table 1).
All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 16 minutes.
Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length in m), sex, and status during the month of October 2019.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stockton Beach | 12/10/2019 14/10/2019 21/10/2019 27/10/2019 | 16:25* 16:10 15:06 10:37 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 1.9; Female 2.0; Female 1.9; Male 2.3; Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Nobbys Beach | 29/10/2019 | 15:46 | White Shark | 1.9; Female | Alive |
Merewether Beach | 02/10/2019 12/10/2019 | 14:48 08:32 | Bronze Whaler Bronze Whaler | 2.5; Male 2.3; Male | Alive Alive |
*No trigger. Time is indicative of when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear at the end of the day