1 Feb - 28 Feb 2019

Operation

The Sydney trial began on the 10 February at Barrenjoey−Newport and Manly−Dee Why with 10 SMART drumlines deployed for 14 days at Barrenjoey−Newport and 16 days at Manly−Dee Why. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:19h to 11:49 at Barrenjoey−Newport and 6:55h to 12:23 at Manly−Dee Why. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 9:25h Barrenjoey−Newport and 9:56h at Manly−Dee Why.

Catch

During February 2019, no target sharks were caught. Five non-target animals including four Dusky Whalers and one unidentified ‘whaler’ shark were caught (Table 1). The unidentified whaler shark (most probably a Dusky Whaler) ejected the hook and escaped whilst securing the animal next to the boat.

All other sharks were released alive.

Comments

When the contractors responded to one alert at Barrenjoey−Newport and nine alerts at Manly−Dee Why, they found that four hooks had no bait and six hooks had the bait fully intact.

All animals triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 29 minutes at Barrenjoey−Newport and 17 minutes at Manly−Dee Why.

Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length in m), sex, and status during February 2019.