1-30 June 2019

Operation

During June 2019, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 12 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 19 days at Evans Head. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:06h to 9:39h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:22h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 7:49h at Evans Head.

Catch

During June 2019, three target sharks were caught (Table 1): two female White Sharks and one female Tiger Shark. Non-target animals included a Lemon Shark, Smooth Hammerhead Shark and Loggerhead Turtle (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 other two had 100% of the bait remaining.

One SMART drumline failed to set off an alert at Airforce Beach, Evans Head on the 16 June 2019. When the contractor arrived at the drumline for retrieval at the end of the day, a Loggerhead Turtle was found alive on the line with the hook caught in the right flipper (Table 1). The hook was removed and the turtle released immediately in good health.

All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 24 minutes.