The purpose of the proposal aims to continue to catch, tag, relocate and release white sharks to better understand their movements following release. A range of tiger sharks and mako sharks will also be satellite and acoustic tagged as part of this proposal.
This proposal is for the continuation of the SMART (Shark Management Alert in Real Time) drumline trial for an additional 12 months (until May 2021).
The trial extension will provide additional data to assist in determining the effectiveness of the SMART drumline as a non-lethal shark hazard mitigation option.
The trial will continue with the use of the 10 drumlines positioned 500 m offshore along an 11.5 kilometre stretch of coast near Gracetown, south-west Australia.
The initial proposal is from February 2019 to May 2020 and information on this proposal is available from http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/proposals/non-lethal-trial-smart-drumlines.
White sharks are listed as ‘Vulnerable’ and are protected by both State and Commonwealth legislation.