Report period: 1 December – 31 December 2017
During December 2017, nets were deployed for 31 fishing days1 at five beaches and each checked 18–20 times (Table 1). Contractors and trained DPI observers check the nets once every 12–48 hours—depending on weather conditions.
Method | Beach | Number of days net deployed | Number of times net checked |
---|---|---|---|
Nets | Seven Mile, Lennox Head | 31 | 19 |
Sharpes, Ballina | 31 | 19 | |
Shelly, Ballina | 31 | 19 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | 31 | 20 | |
Main, Evans Head | 31 | 18 |
1The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.
During the 31 fishing days in December, a total of 36 individuals from ten species were caught in the nets (Table 2).
- 20 (56%) were released alive.
- 16 (44%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
- ‘Listed Fauna’ caught in December were five Pygmy Devilrays, two Loggerhead Turtles, one Hawksbill Turtle, one Green Turtle, one Greynurse Shark and one Manta Ray.
Beach | Species | Number alive | Number dead |
---|---|---|---|
Seven Mile, Lennox Head | Australian Cownose Ray | 3 | 0 |
Common Blacktip Shark | 0 | 1 | |
Pygmy Devilray | 1 | 3 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Sharpes, Ballina | Common Blacktip Shark | 1 | 0 |
Hawksbill Turtle | 0 | 1 | |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 1 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Shelly, Ballina | Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 |
Lighthouse, Ballina | Loggerhead Turtle | 2 | 0 |
Main, Evans Head | Australian Cownose Ray | 8 | 7 |
Common Blacktip Shark | 0 | 1 | |
Green Turtle | 0 | 1 | |
Greynurse Shark | 1 | 0 | |
Manta Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 1 | |
TOTAL | 20 | 16 |
Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a cumulative total of 38 days, catching 54 animals from 12 species and with an overall survival of 56% (Table 3).
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 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 7 |
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 |
Great Hammerhead | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
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 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
TOTAL | 16 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 24 |