Operation
During August 2018, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 25 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 31 days at Evans Head (the first occasion since the trial started where the SMART drumlines were able to be deployed every day at a given location). Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:01h to 10:13h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:32h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 8:34h at Evans Head.
Total catches
During August 2018, 24 target sharks were caught (Table 1): one male Tiger Shark from Ballina-Lennox Head, and 23 White Sharks (12 male and 11 female) from Ballina-Lennox Head (10 individuals) and Evans Head (13 individuals). The total number of target sharks caught on SMART drumlines since 8 December 2016 is 275 White Sharks, 41 Tiger Sharks and 9 Bull Sharks.
One non-target animal (female Shortfin Mako Shark) was caught at Evans Head (Table 1).The total number of non-target animals caught since 8 December 2016 is 130 individuals from 13 species.
All animals were released alive.
Comments
When the contractor responded to eleven alerts that had no catch, they found that seven hooks had no bait, three hooks had the bait fully intact, and one hook had 10% of the bait remaining.
All caught animals triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were 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 the month of August 2018.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Lennox Head Beach | 22/08/2018 | 14:31 | Tiger Shark | 1.8; Male | Alive |
Lennox Headland | 15/08/2018 | 13:57 | White Shark | 2.4; Male | Alive |
Sharpes Beach | 04/08/2018 04/08/2018 22/08/2018 26/08/2018 | 08:29 13:19 11:01 07:42 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 1.9; Male 2.6; Female 2.3; Female 2.8; Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Shelly Beach | 11/08/2018 | 11:26 | White Shark | 2.7; Male | Alive |
Lighthouse Beach | 04/08/2018 09/08/2018 | 14:18 08:09 | White Shark White Shark | 2.0; Female 2.6; Female | Alive Alive |
South Ballina Beach | 05/08/2018 11/08/2018 | 11:26 13:15 | White Shark White Shark | 2.4; Female 2.8; Male | Alive Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Joggly Point to Shark Bay | 15/08/2018 27/08/2018 27/08/2018 | 08:12 10:25 14:50 | White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.3; Male 2.4; Female 2.5; Male | Alive Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 02/08/2018 03/08/2018 07/08/2018 07/08/2018 23/08/2018 29/08/2018 | 08:37 10:35 07:02 08:33 12:59 07:46 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark Shortfin Mako Shark White Shark | 1.6; Female 2.1; Male 2.5; Female 2.5; Female 2.5; Female 1.9; Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Airforce Beach | 03/08/2018 06/08/2018 14/08/2018 17/08/2018 29/08/2018 | 11:26 08:36 10:52 14:08 12:30 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.6; Male 2.5; Female 1.7; Male 2.3; Male 2.3; Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |