Second NSW North Coast Shark Mesh Trial Report

Report period: 1 January – 31 January 2018

Note: All data are preliminary and subject to quality assurance checks and confirmation of species identities from photos and necropsies. Asterisks will be used to denote data that have been corrected since first publication.

During January 2018, nets were deployed for 27 fishing days¹ at five beaches and each checked 14 times (Table 1). Nets were removed from the water on January 15 due to poor weather forecasted and redeployed on January 19. Contractors and trained DPI observers check the nets once every 12–48 hours —depending on weather conditions.

Table 1. The number of days that nets were deployed at each beach, and the number of times nets were checked between 1 and 31 January, 2018.
Method	Beach	Number of days net deployed	Number of times net checked
Nets	Seven Mile, Lennox Head	27	14
	Sharpes, Ballina	27	14
	Shelly, Ballina	27	14
	Lighthouse, Ballina	27	14
	Main, Evans Head	27	14

¹ The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.

During the 27 fishing days in January, a total of 30 individuals from six species were caught in the nets (Table 2).

25 (83%) were released alive.
5 (17%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
‘Listed Fauna’ caught in December were one Common Dolphin, two Great Hammerheads, and one Loggerhead Turtle.

Table 2. The numbers of each species caught in the nets that were alive and released, or dead and retained at each beach.
Beach	Species	Number alive	Number dead
Seven Mile, Lennox Head	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	2	0
Sharpes, Ballina	Great Hammerhead	0	1
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	0
Shelly, Ballina	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	4	0
Lighthouse, Ballina	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	1	0
	Common Dolphin	0	1
Main, Evans Head	Australian Cownose Ray	13	2
	Great Hammerhead	0	1
	Loggerhead Turtle	1	0
	Whitespotted Eagle Ray	2	0
	Whitespotted Guitarfish	1	0
TOTAL		25	5

Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a cumulative total of 65 days, catching 83 animals from 14 species and with an overall survival of 65% (Table 3).

Table 3. The species caught in the nets and the total numbers that were alive and released, or dead and retained at each beach since the second trial began on 23 November, 2017
	Main Beach, Evans Head		Lighthouse Beach, Ballina		Shelly Beach, Ballina		Sharpes Beach, Ballina		Seven Mile Beach, Lennox Head		Total
Species	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead	Alive	Dead
Australian Cownose Ray	27	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	31	9
Bull Shark	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Common Blacktip Shark	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	3
Common Dolphin	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Great Hammerhead	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	4
Green Turtle	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Greynurse Shark	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Hawksbill Turtle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Loggerhead Turtle	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Manta Ray	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Pygmy Devilray	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	2	9
Spinner Shark	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Whitespotted Eagle Ray	2	0	2	0	5	0	2	0	3	0	13	0
Whitespotted Guitarfish	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
TOTAL	33	14	7	1	5	0	3	3	7	11	54	29