1 Dec - 31 Dec 2017

Operation

During December 2017, SMART drumlines were deployed for 29 days at Ballina-Lennox Head, 23 days at Evans Head, 24 days at Coffs Harbour, 26 days at Forster, 27 days at Kiama and Ulladulla. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 4:09h to 12:25h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:29h at Ballina-Lennox Head, 8:44h at Evans Head, 7:54h at Coffs Harbour, 9:27h at Forster, 9:26h at Kiama, and 10:37h at Ulladulla.

Total catches

A total of 13 target sharks from six locations were caught: three Tiger Sharks (all female) and 10 White Sharks (2 males and 8 females). Similar numbers of White Sharks were caught at each location (Evans Head - 3, Forster and Ballina-Lennox Head - 2, Coffs Harbour, Ulladulla and Kiama - 1) (Tables 1 and 2).

A total of 11 non-target animals were caught, including one Black Ray and 10 sharks from five species (Bronze Whaler, Dusky Whaler, Shortfin Mako Shark, Smooth Hammerhead and Thresher Shark - Table 3). All animals were released alive and in good condition.

Comments

When the contractor responded to twenty-two alerts that had no catch, they found that nine hooks had no bait, eight hooks the bait was fully intact, while two hooks had 10%, and one hook had either 30, 60 or 70% of the bait remaining.

On 11 December 2017 the SMART drumline at Minnamurra Beach, Minnamurra failed to set off any alert.  When the contractor arrived to retrieve the SMART drumline at the end of the day, a 1.68 m TL White Shark was found. Given how active the shark was, it was thought that the animal had taken the bait at about the same time as the contractor arrived; it was tagged and released.

All other caught animals triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 17 minutes.

On the 16 December 2017 a SMART drumline deployed at South Ballina Beach, Ballina went missing. Searches of the adjacent beach and water 7 km either side of the deployment location on the day failed to find the drumline. The drumline was later found, without anchor or anchor rope, by a recreational boater in the Richmond River, Ballina on the day it went missing and reported to Fisheries Compliance.

Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length in m for sharks, disc width for rays), sex and status during the month of December 2017.