Operation
During September 2019, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 24 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 27 days at Evans Head. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:06h to 10:41h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:13h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 8:25h at Evans Head.
Catch
During September 2019, 26 target sharks were caught (Table 1): one Tiger Shark and 13 White Sharks at Ballina-Lennox, and 12 White Sharks at Evans Head. Eight non-target animals were caught, including one Smooth Hammerhead, two Dusky Whalers, and five Greynurse Sharks (Table 1). All animals were released alive.
Comments
When the contractors responded to twelve alerts that had no catch, they found seven hooks had no bait remaining, one hook had 80%, and four hooks had 100% of the bait remaining.
Four SMART drumlines failed to set off alerts during September: two at Evans Head on the 7th and one on the 24th; and one at Ballina on the 21st. When the Evans Head contractor arrived at the drumline for retrieval at the end of those two days, a White Shark and two Greynurse Sharks were found alive on the line, and on the 21st the Ballina contractor also found a White Shark alive on the line; all sharks which were 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 21 minutes.
Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length for sharks), sex, and status during the month of September 2019.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Lennox Head Beach | 15/09/2019 18/09/2019 20/09/2019 29/09/2019 30/09/2019 | 11:56 12:14 15:06 14:48 11:05 | White Shark Smooth Hammerhead Dusky Whaler White Shark White Shark | 2.2, Female 1.6, Female 2.5, Unknown 2.0, Female 2.8, Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Boulders Beach | 29/09/2019 | 10:06 | White Shark | 2.9, Female | Alive |
Angels Beach | 20/09/2019 | 08:59 | White Shark | 2.6, Male | Alive |
Shelly Beach | 01/09/2019 | 08:46 | White Shark | 1.9; Male | Alive |
Lighthouse Beach | 01/09/2019 02/09/2019 06/09/2019 21/09/2019 30/09/2019 | 09:25 13:31 11:55 14:54* 14:39 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.2, Male 2.9, Male 2.3, Female 2.1, Male 2.0, Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
South Ballina Beach | 17/09/2019 19/09/2019 24/09/2019 26/09/2019 | 12:06 15:50 08:39 08:34 | White Shark Dusky Whaler White Shark Tiger Shark | 2.6, Male 2.6, Male 2.2, Female 3.1, Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Airforce Beach | 01/09/2019 14/09/2019 24/09/2019 30/09/2019 | 14:08 11:17 09:21 7:52 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.1, Female 2.3, Male 2.7, Female 2.0, Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 07/09/2019 13/09/2019 14/09/2019 18/09/2019 24/09/2019 26/09/2019 27/09/2019 28/09/2019 | 16:12* 16:01 11:26 09:47 15:55* 10:39 7:02 15:30 | Greynurse Shark Greynurse Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.1, Female 2.6, Female 2.7, Female 1.7, Female 1.7, Male 2.4, Male 2.2, Male 2.2, Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Shark Bay | 07/09/2019 14/09/2019 | 15:38* 10:31 | Greynurse Shark Greynurse Shark | 2.6, Female 2.6, Female | Alive Alive |
Joggly Point | 04/09/2019 16/09/2019 29/09/2019 | 14:52 10:32 9:34 | White Shark White Shark Greynurse Shark | 2.1, Male 1.9, Male 2.5, Female | Alive Alive Alive |
*No trigger. Time is indicative of when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear at the end of the day