1-30 November 2018

Operation

During November 2018, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 23 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 26 days at Evans Head. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:04h to 12:38h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 9:10h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 9:18h at Evans Head.

Catches

During November 2018, four target sharks were caught (Table 1): two female White Sharks from each of Ballina-Lennox Head and Evans Head.  Five non-target animals were caught including two Smooth Hammerhead Sharks, two Greynurse Sharks, and one Common Blacktip Shark (Table 1).

Comments

When the contractor responded to five alerts that had no catch, they found that two hooks had no bait, two hooks had the bait intact, and one hook had 80% of the bait remaining.

One SMART drumline failed to set off an alert at South Ballina Beach, Ballina on 16 November 2018. When the contractor arrived at the SMART drumline at the end of the day, a White Shark was alive on the line (Table 1). The mono filament trigger line had been cut and the shark was hooked in the pectoral fin. It was tagged and released immediately.

After an alert, DPI contractors arrived at the SMART drumline within an average of 17 minutes.

Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length in m), sex, and status during November 2018.