Operation
During April 2019, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 16 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 23 days at Evans Head. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:28h to 10:59h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 9:09h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 9:15h at Evans Head.
Catch
During April 2019, nine target sharks were caught (Table 1): two female White Sharks and seven Tiger Sharks. One non-target Mako Shark was caught (Table 1). All sharks were released alive.
Comments
When the contractor responded to one alert that had no catch, they found that the hook had no bait.
One SMART drumline failed to set off an alert at Airforce Beach, Evans Head on 5 April 2019. When the contractor arrived at the respective drumline for retrieval at the end of the day, a Tiger Shark was found alive on the line (Table 1). The trigger magnet had broken. The shark was tagged and released immediately.
All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 21 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 April 2019.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Lennox Head Beach | 30/04/2019 | 15:29 | White Shark | 3.1; Female | Alive |
Lennox Headland | 24/04/2019 | 09:17 | Tiger Shark | 2.2; Female | Alive |
Sharpes beach | 30/04/2019 | 15:29 | White Shark | 2.4; Female | Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Airforce Beach | 05/04/2019 17/04/2019 17/04/2019 | 17:13* 07:47 08:02 | Tiger Shark Tiger Shark Tiger shark | 3.5; Female 2.3; Male 1.9; Male | Alive Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 08/04/2019 15/04/2019 | 09:29 07:23 | Mako Shark Tiger Shark | 2.3; Male 2.0; Female | Alive Alive |
Joggly Point | 13/04/2019 15/04/2019 | 11:02 11:56 | Tiger Shark Tiger Shark | 2.0; Male 2.0; Female | Alive Alive |
*No trigger. Time is indicative of when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear at the end of the day