1-30 November 2019

Operation

During November 2019, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 22 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 5:04h to 11:53h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:52h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 8:46h at Evans Head.

Catch

During November 2019, 11 target sharks were caught (Table 1): 10 White Sharks (7 White Sharks at Ballina-Lennox and 3 White Sharks at Evans Head) and 1 Tiger Shark at Ballina-Lennox Head. Four non-target animals were caught, including a Manta Ray, Smooth Hammerhead Shark, Greynurse Shark, and Common Blacktip Shark, (Table 1). All animals were released alive, except the Smooth Hammerhead that was found dead on arrival, despite the contractors being at the SMART drumline within 27 minutes of hooking. The shark had bite marks suggesting it was most likely attacked by another shark whilst hooked.

Comments

When the contractors responded to seven alerts that had no catch, they found three hooks had no bait remaining, three hooks had 20%, and one hook had 100% of the bait remaining.

All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 21 minutes.