Capture Response and Long-Term Fate of White Sharks () after Release from SMART Drumlines.

Human-shark conflict has been managed through catch-and-kill policies in most parts of the world. More recently, there has been a greater demand for shark bite mitigation measures to improve protection for water users whilst minimizing harm to non-target and target species, particularly White Sharks (), given their status as a Threatened, Endangered, or Protected (TEP) species. A new non-lethal shark bite mitigation method, known as the Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time (SMART) drumline, alerts responders when an animal takes the bait and thereby provides an opportunity for rapid response to the catch and potentially to relocate, tag, and release sharks.

Mitigating discard mortality from dusky flathead Platycephalus fuscus gillnets.

The mortalities and contributing parameters were estimated for key species discarded during commercial gillnetting (80 mm mesh) targeting dusky flathead Platycephalus fuscus in a southeastern Australian estuary. Bycatches (1470 individuals from 16 species over 11 deployments) were assessed for their immediate mortalities onboard the gillnetter, before subsamples (570 individuals from 11 species) were discarded into cages and monitored for their short-term fate over 4 d. Appropriate controls were concurrently caged and monitored.

Mortality of discards from southeastern Australian beach seines and gillnets.

Two experiments were done in an Australian estuary to quantify the mortalities and contributing factors for key species discarded during 8 and 9 deployments of commercial beach (or shore) seines and gillnets, respectively. In both experiments, bycatches (2347 individuals comprising 16 species) were handled according to conventional practices and assessed for immediate mortalities before live samples of selected species were discarded into replicate cages along with appropriate controls, and monitored for short-term mortalities (< or =10 d). All of the seined or gilled fish were alive prior to discarding.

Ingestion and ejection of hooks: effects on long-term health and mortality of angler-caught yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis.

Ninety juvenile yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis were angled from holding tanks, allowed to ingest nickel-plated, carbon-steel J-hooks and released (with their lines cut) into individual experimental tanks during 2 experiments in order to assess their (1) long-term (up to 105 d) health, mortality and rate of hook ejection and (2) short- and medium-term (< 42 d) temporal changes in health during hook ingestion. Equal numbers of control fish were scooped from holding tanks and similarly monitored in experimental tanks. Of 20 hook-ingested fish released during Expt 1, 3 died within 8 d, providing a non-significant mortality of 15%.