Operation
From 1 November to 1 December 2019, 10 SMART drumlines were deployed for 31 days at Barrenjoey−Newport and 29 days at Manly−Dee Why. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:20 to 12:15h at Barrenjoey−Newport and 5:03 to 11:47h at Manly−Dee Why. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 9:45h at Barrenjoey−Newport and 9:20h at Manly−Dee Why.
Catch
From 1 November to 1 December 2019, five target sharks were caught (Table 1): three White Sharks at Palm Beach, Dee Why Beach and Freshwater Beach and two Tiger Sharks at Manly Beach and Curly Curl Beach. Four non-target animals were caught, including two Dusky Whalers and two Mako Sharks (Table 1). All sharks were released alive, except the Mako Shark.
Comments
When the contractors responded to three alerts at Manly- Dee Why, they found that all hooks had 100% of the bait remaining.
Three SMART drumlines failed to set off an alert on 9 November and 28 November 2019 at Barrenjoey−Newport and 19 November 2019 at Manly-Dee Why. When the contractor arrived at the drumlines for retrieval at the end of the day, a Dusky Whaler and Tiger Shark were found alive on the line, which were tagged and released immediately (Table 1). A Mako Shark was found dead despite being hooked in the mouth.
All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 18 minutes.
Table 1: The date and time of capture of species, their sizes (total length in m), sex, and status from 1 November to 1 December 2019.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barrenjoey−Newport | |||||
Palm Beach | 14/11/2019 | 15:48 | White Shark | 1.7; Male | Alive |
Bigola Beach | 28/11/2019 | 16:38* | Dusky Whaler | 1.7; Male | Alive |
Avalon Beach | 09/11/2019 15/11/2019 | 18:12* 10:38 | Mako Shark Dusky Whaler | 1.1; Male 1.6; Male | Dead Alive |
Whale Beach | 02/11/2019 29/11/2019 | 12:43 10:43 | Mako Shark White Shark | 1.8; Male 2.0; Female | Alive Alive |
Manly−Dee Why | |||||
Manly Beach | 19/11/2019 | 17:15* | Tiger Shark | 2.3; Female | Alive |
Freshwater Beach | 07/11/2019 | 14:42 | White shark | 1.7; Female | Alive |
Curl Curl Beach | 06/11/2019 | 16:36 | Tiger Shark | 3.0; Female | Alive |
*No trigger. Time is indicative of when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear at the end of the day