While the trial of SMART drumlines on the Far South Coast caught non-target shark species, the NSW government does not believe this will affect the future of the program.
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After the two-month trial began in March this year, the SMART (Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time) drumlines snagged 11 sharks at Tathra and five at Merimbula.
The target species were white, tiger and bull sharks, although no bull sharks were caught.
Non-target species were bronze whaler and grey nurse sharks, which accounted for five of the 16 animals caught at the Far South Coast areas.
A spokesperson from the Department of Primary Industries said despite the fact almost a third of the catch at Tathra and Merimbula were non-target species and one tiger shark was caught but the alert failed to go off leaving the animal hooked for an unknown amount of time, they had no concerns over the future use of SMART drumlines.
"The trials on the South Coast and in other areas have caught predominantly target sharks, especially white sharks, with less than a handful of mortalities out of nearly 600 captures," they said.
"The catch of non-target species is to be expected, as is the occasional capture that does not trigger an alert."
The spokesperson said white, tiger and bull sharks have long been recognised in Australia and in most parts of the world as the target species of shark mitigation programs, including the NSW government's shark meshing program.
"Those species are responsible for the majority of unprovoked shark interactions in NSW, and all six fatalities over the last 30 years," they said.
Scientists from the DPI will examining the results and key findings from the SMART trials that took place over summer on the South Coast, North Coast, Sydney and Newcastle.
"DPI will also speak to those communities to inform future decision making about shark mitigation at their local beaches," the spokesperson said.