Operation
During September 2017, SMART drumlines were deployed for totals of 19, 22, 20, and 28 days at Ballina-Lennox Head, Evans Head, Coffs Harbour and Forster, respectively. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed, and in September this ranged from 5:03h to 11:00h on any given day. On average SMART drumlines were deployed for 7:58h to 9:27h among the four locations.
Total catches
A total of 39 target sharks across the four locations were caught during September 2017; two Tiger Sharks (both female) from Coffs Harbour and 37 White Sharks (13 males, 23 females, 1 unknown).
White Sharks were mostly caught at Forster (15 animals), then Ballina-Lennox Head (9), Coffs Harbour (7) and Evans Head (6) (Table 1 and 2).
Thirteen sharks across five non-target species were caught; six Dusky Sharks (4 at Forster, 1 each at Coffs Harbour and Ballina-Lennox Head), four Greynurse Sharks (two at Evans Head and one each at Ballina-Lennox Head and Coffs Harbour), one Shortfin Mako Shark at Coffs Harbour, one Bronze Whaler at Forster, and one Common Blacktip at Evans Head. The Common Blacktip was found dead on the line when the contractor arrived 18 minutes after the initial alert, with bite marks on its body that were characteristic of a Tiger Shark wound (Table 1 and 3).
Seventeen alerts had no catch with the bait fully intact on ten hooks, no bait remaining on six hooks and 20% remaining on one hook when the contractor arrived. One Dusky Whaler Shark failed to set off an alert, but was found alive on the line at the end of the day (Table 1). All other caught animals triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average time of 16 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 September 2017.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Boulders Beach | 13/09/2017 18/09/2017 | 10:20 9:01 | Dusky Shark White Shark | 2.8; Male 2.3; Female | Alive Alive |
Sharpes Beach | 04/09/2017 05/09/2017 23/09/2017 | 10:24 15:00 10:09 | White Shark White Shark White Shark | 3.0; Female 2.2; Male 3.0; Male | Alive Alive Alive |
Angels Beach | 14/09/2017 14/09/2017 29/09/2017 | 8:11 9:02 9:41 | White Shark Greynurse Shark White Shark | 2.3; Female 2.9; Female 2.1; Male | Alive Alive Alive |
Lighthouse Beach | 27/09/2017 | 14:14 | White Shark | 2.7; Female | Alive |
South Ballina Beach | 16/09/2017 30/09/2017 | 15:48 15:21 | White Shark White Shark | 3.0; Female 1.8; Female | Alive Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Airforce Beach | 14/09/2017 18/09/2017 | 11:12 13:42 | Greynurse Shark White Shark | 2.7; Female 2.1; Female | Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 16/09/2017 19/09/2017 27/09/2017 | 10:30 13:25 06:27 | White Shark Common Blacktip Greynurse Shark | 2.6; Female 1.2; Male 2.3; Female | Alive Dead Alive |
Shark Bay to Joggly Point | 03/09/2017 14/09/2017 15/09/2017 22/09/2017 | 9:53 10:25 9:28 6:58 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.3: Male 2.9; Male 2.3; Male 2.2; Unknown | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Coffs Harbour/Sawtell | |||||
Diggers Beach | 06/09/2017 20/09/2017 | 15;40 14:55 | Tiger Shark White Shark | 1.9; Female 2.2; Female | Alive Alive |
Boambee Beach/Headland | 04/09/2017 04/09/2017 16/09/2017 16/09/2017 20/09/2017 25/09/2017 27/09/2017 29/09/2017 | 12:10 12:40 11:03 11:50 11:22 11:27 11:14 12:42 | White Shark White Shark Greynurse Shark Tiger Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark Shortfin Mako | 1.9; Female 2.9; Female 2.8; Female 1.6; Female 2.2; Male 2.0: Male 2.7; Female 1.9; Male | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Sawtell Headland | 07/09/2017 30/09/2017 | 15:28 11:22 | Dusky Shark White Shark | 1.0; Female 1.0; Female | Alive Alive |
Forster/Tuncurry | |||||
Tuncurry Beach | 02/09/2017 03/09/2017 06/09/2017 09/09/2017 11/09/2017 13/09/2017 15/09/2017 16/09/2017 16/09/2017 19/09/2017 | 12:57 7:19 16:20 14:22 13:48 10:57 9:03 16:25* 15:37 7:56 | White Shark White Shark Dusky Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark Dusky Shark Dusky Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.3; Female 2.5; Female 2.2; Female 2.3; Male 2.5; Female 2.1; Female 2.5; Female 2.4; Female 2.3; Female 3.6; Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 17/09/2017 26/09/2017 26/09/2017 28/09/2017 | 12:16 7:55 16:00 9:10 | White Shark White Shark White Shark Bronze Whaler | 2.6; Female 2.3; Male 2.8; Female 2.6; Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Pebbly Beach | 20/09/2017 | 11:09 | White Shark | 2.3; Female | Alive |
Bennetts Head | 27/09/2017 29/09/2017 | 11:07 13:20 | White Shark White Shark | 2.3; Male 2.5; Female | Alive Alive |
One Mile Beach | 04/09/2017 10/09/2017 20/09/2017 | 16:47 8:49 13:45 | White Shark Dusky Shark White Shark | 2.8; Male 2.2; Female 2.4; Female | Alive Alive Alive |
* indicates no alert but time when contractors found the shark during drumline retrieval
Table 2: Cumulative total of target shark species caught on SMART drumlines since December 2016 at Ballina-Lennox Head (BL), Evans Head (EH), Coffs Harbour (CH) and Forster (F).
| White Shark | Tiger Shark | Bull Shark | TOTAL | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | ||||
8 Dec – 7 Jan 2017 | 4 | 5 | - | - | 2 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 11 | ||
8 Jan – 7 Feb 2017 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 5 | ||
8 Feb – 7 Mar 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | ||
8 Mar – 7 Apr 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 | ||
8 Apr – 7 May 2017 | 7a | 3b | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 | 0 | - | - | 12 | ||
8 May – 31 May 2017 | 2 | 5 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 7 | ||
1 June – 30 June 2017 | 5 | 11 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 0 | - | - | 17 | ||
1 July – 31 July 2017 | 11 | 16 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 27 | ||
1 Aug – 31 Aug 2017 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | ||
1 Sep – 30 Sep 2017 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | ||
SUB TOTAL | 47 | 56 | 7 | 31 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ||
TOTAL | 141 | 5 | 3 | 149 | |||||||||||
a 1 individual died
b 1 individual was found dead on Airforce Beach, Evans Head on May 12 after being tagged and released on May 7.
Table 3: Cumulative total of non-target species caught on SMART drumlines since December 2016 at Ballina-Lennox Head (BL), Evans Head (EH), Coffs Harbour (CH) and Forster (F).
| Grey Nurse Shark | Dusky Shark | Whaler Shark - unidentified | Black Ray | Thresher - unidentified | Shortfin Mako Shark | Bronze Whaler Shark | Common Blacktip Shark | TOTAL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | B L | EH | CH | F | BL | EH | CH | F | ||
8 Dec 2016 – 7 Jan 2017 | 0 | 2 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 |
8 Jan – 7 Feb 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
8 Feb – 7 Mar 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
8 Mar – 7 Apr 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
8 Apr – 7 May 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
8 May – 31 May 2017 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 |
1 June – 30 June 2017 | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 |
1 July – 31 July 2017 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | - | - | 4 |
1 Aug – 31 Aug 2017 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
1 Sep – 30 Sep 2017 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
SUB TOTAL | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
|
TOTAL | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||