Operation
During May 2020, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 17 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 5:32h to 10:12h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:31h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 8:19h at Evans Head.
Catch
During May 2020, four target sharks were caught (Table 1): two Tiger Sharks (one each at Ballina-Lennox and Evans Head) and two White Sharks at Ballina-Lennox Head. Three non-target animals were caught, including a Green Turtle that was foul hooked on the flipper, a Dusky Whaler and a Common Blacktip Shark (Table 1). All animals, except the Common Blacktip Shark, were released alive.
Comments
When the contractors responded to six alerts that had no catch, they found four hooks had no bait remaining, one hook had 20%, and one had 100% of the bait remaining.
Two SMART drumlines failed to set off an alert, both at Main Beach, Evans Head, on 1 and 10 May 2020. On both occasions the contractor found the animal when they arrived at the drumline for retrieval at the end of the day. On the 1st they found a Common Blacktip shark on the line that was tangled in the trace and subsequently died, and on the 10th a Green Turtle was foul hooked on the flipper and was released immediately (Table 1).
All other animals triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 26 minutes.
Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length for sharks or disc width for turtles in m), sex, and status during the month of May 2020.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Lennox Head Beach | 08/05/2020 | 11:18 | Dusky Whaler | 1.3; Male | Alive |
Angels Beach | 13/05/2020 | 14:32 | White Shark | 4.0; Female | Alive |
South Ballina Beach | 03/05/2020 20/05/2020 | 11:40 14:48 | Tiger Shark White Shark | 2.3; Female 4.3; Unknown | Alive Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Main Beach | 01/05/2020 01/05/2020 10/05/2020 | 08:06 15:25* 15:39* | Tiger Shark Common Blacktip Green Turtle | 2.5; Female 1.2; Male 0.5; Unknown | Alive Dead Alive |
*No trigger. Time is when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear up at the end of the day