Operation
During August 2019, 20 SMART drumlines were deployed for 23 days at Ballina-Lennox Head and 15 SMART drumlines for 28 days at Evans Head. Environmental conditions determined how long SMART drumlines were deployed on any given day, ranging from 5:08h to 10:22h. On average, SMART drumlines were deployed daily for 8:15h at Ballina-Lennox Head and 8:40h at Evans Head.
Catch
During August 2019, 32 target sharks were caught (Table 1): 11 White Sharks at Ballina-Lennox and 21 White Sharks at Evans Head. Four non-target animals were caught, including a Dusky Whaler, Bronze Whaler and two Greynurse Sharks (Table 1). All animals were released alive.
Comments
When the contractors responded to fourteen alerts that had no catch, they found that eleven hooks had no bait remaining, and the other three hooks had 20%, 80% or 100% of the bait remaining.
Three SMART drumlines failed to set off an alert at Evans Head on 1, 5 and 19 August 2019. On each occasion, when the contractor arrived at the drumline for retrieval at the end of the day, a White Shark was found alive on the line, which was tagged and released immediately (Table 1).
All other sharks triggered an alert to the DPI contractors who responded and were at the SMART drumline within an average of 20 minutes.
Table 1: The date and time of capture of species and their sizes (total length for sharks or disc width for turtles in m), sex, and status during the month of August 2019.
Beach name | Date | Time | Species | Size (TL) and sex | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ballina to Lennox Head | |||||
Lennox Head Beach | 18/08/2019 14/08/2019 19/08/2019 | 11:16 13:06 09:07 | Bronze Whaler White Shark White Shark | 2.8; Male 2.1; Male 2.7; Female | Alive Alive Alive |
Lennox Headland | 28/08/2019 | 07:20 | White Shark | 2.7; Female | Alive |
Boulders Beach | 02/08/2019 16/08/2019 18/08/2019 | 09:59 08:16 08:15 | White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.4; Female 2.8; Female 1.8; Female | Alive Alive Alive |
Sharpes Beach | 30/08/2019 | 12:22 | White Shark | 3.0; Female | Alive |
Angels Beach | 14/08/2019 14/08/2019 | 14:16 09:41 | Dusky Whaler White Shark | 1.8; Female 3.1; Female | Alive Alive |
Shelly Beach | 16/08/2019 | 12:57 | Greynurse Shark | 2.9; Female | Alive |
South Ballina Beach | 09/08/2019 14/08/2019 18/08/2019 | 10:28 12:28 13:47 | White Shark White Shark White Shark | 3.1; Female 2.8; Female 3.0; Female | Alive Alive Alive |
Evans Head | |||||
Airforce Beach | 01/08/2019 06/08/2019 18/08/2019 19/08/2019 25/08/2019 28/08/2019 29/08/2019 | 15:10* 14:56 07:57 15:30* 11:12 15:05 12:43 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.7; Female 1.9; Male 2.1; Female 1.7; Female 2.1; Female 2.1; Female 2.2; Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Main Beach | 02/08/2019 05/08/2019 08/08/2019 13/08/2019 13/08/2019 15/08/2019 19/08/2019 26/08/2019 29/08/2019 | 13:54 15:26* 08:28 09:22 13:48 13:15 16:15 15:25 11:29 | White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark White Shark | 3.1; Female 1.8; Female 2.0; Male 2.5; Female 2.3; Male 1.7: Female 2.7; Female 2.7; Male 2.4; Female | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive |
Shark Bay | 08/08/2019 25/08/2019 26/08/2019 | 12:15 11:50 07:27 | White Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.1; Female 2.1; Male 2.7; Female | Alive Alive Alive |
Joggly Point | 11/08/2019 11/08/2019 13/08/2019 | 09:46 10:09 14:43 | Greynurse Shark White Shark White Shark | 2.8; Female 2.5; Male 2.9; Male | Alive Alive Alive |
*No trigger. Time is indicative of when the contractor arrived to pick up the gear at the end of the day