Report period: 1 February – 28 February 2018
During February 2018, nets were deployed for 23 fishing days1 at five beaches and each checked 12 or 13 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 | 23 | 12 |
Sharpes, Ballina | 23 | 12 | |
Shelly, Ballina | 23 | 12 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | 23 | 12 | |
Main, Evans Head | 23 | 13 |
1 The Management Plan for the trial defines a ‘fishing day’ as 24 hours that the nets are in the water.
During the 23 fishing days in February, a total of 26 individuals from eight species were caught in the nets (Table 2).
- 16 (62%) were released alive.
- 10 (38%) were deceased and retained for analyses.
- ‘Listed Fauna’ caught in February were two Great Hammerheads, two Manta Rays, one Pygmy Devilray, and one Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.
Beach | Species | Number alive | Number dead |
---|---|---|---|
Seven Mile, Lennox Head | Great Hammerhead | 0 | 1 |
Manta Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 1 | |
Sharpes, Ballina | Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 1 | 0 |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 1 | 0 | |
Shelly, Ballina | Bull Shark | 0 | 1 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 3 | 1 | |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 0 | 1 | |
Lighthouse, Ballina | Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin | 0 | 1 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 6 | 0 | |
Main, Evans Head | Great Hammerhead | 0 | 1 |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 1 | |
Manta Ray | 1 | 0 | |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 2 | 2 | |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 1 | 0 | |
TOTAL | 16 | 10 |
Since the trial began on 23 November 2017, each net has been fished for a total of 88 days (not consecutively), catching 110 animals from 15 species and with an overall survival of 65% (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 | 27 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 9 |
Bull Shark | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
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 |
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Loggerhead Turtle | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Manta Ray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Pygmy Devilray | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 10 |
Spinner Shark | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Whitespotted Eagle Ray | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 3 |
Whitespotted Guitarfish | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
TOTAL | 37 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 71 | 39 |