A FLURRY of shark activity has been recorded off Port Macquarie beaches this month, with nine separate reports logged in seven days, including the evacuation of swimmers at Town Beach last Monday.
The alerts were published through Dorsal Shark Reports – Australia, a national reporting service that compiles information from official government channels, the public, aerial surveillance partners and media outlets.
Reports show a mix of white, bull and tiger sharks detected or tagged along Port Macquarie’s beaches between 7 and 14 February.
At 9.26am on Saturday, 14 February at Rocky Beach, a 3.84-metre white shark was caught on a SMART drumline, tagged and released.
A day earlier, at 10.46am, a tagged white shark triggered a receiver alert off Lighthouse Beach.
That followed a 7.12am receiver detection of a bull shark at Lighthouse Beach on 12 February.
There were two separate alerts on 11 February.
At 3.14am, a bull shark was detected via a receiver off Lighthouse Beach.
Later that day, at 6.03pm, a 2.03-metre tiger shark was caught, tagged and released off Shelly Beach.
Further south, a 2.82-metre tiger shark was tagged and released at Miners South Beach at 3.08pm on Monday, 9 February.
Earlier that morning, at 10.30am, swimmers were evacuated from Town Beach following a public report of a white shark in the area.
The sequence began on 7 February, when a tagged white shark was detected by a receiver off Lighthouse Beach at 9.59pm.
Another receiver alert for a bull shark followed at 9.28pm on 8 February, also at Lighthouse Beach.
The cluster of detections comes as the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) confirmed 57 SMART drumlines are deployed daily, weather permitting, between Newcastle and Coffs Harbour as part of the Shark Management Program.
The department said SMART drumlines are designed as a non-lethal mitigation tool.
When a target shark is hooked, contractors respond, tag the animal, relocate it offshore and release it.
The program aims to reduce the immediate risk to swimmers while collecting long-term scientific data.
Tagged sharks can then be tracked through the SharkSmart app, with automatic alerts issued if a tagged shark swims within 500 metres of one of the state’s 37 listening stations.
Government researchers are currently tracking 1,557 white sharks, 787 tiger sharks and 254 bull sharks along the NSW coastline.
The tracking program has revealed the scale of shark movements, with tagged animals travelling thousands of kilometres.
The DPIRD said sharks tagged off NSW have later been detected in Western Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tasmania, sub-Antarctic islands, New Zealand and New Caledonia.
Research shows sharks move extensively and are not resident to any one location along the coast.
After release from SMART drumlines, most sharks move offshore in the short to medium term before resuming their natural migratory patterns.
The DPIRD said receiver detections occur when a tagged shark swims within range of an underwater listening station.
Those detections do not necessarily indicate a shark is close to shore for extended periods, but they provide near real-time information to authorities.
Seasonal patterns also play a role.
The department said bull sharks are more commonly detected in estuarine and nearshore waters during warmer summer and autumn months.
Tiger sharks are present year-round, while white sharks are generally more abundant in cooler months but continue to move along the coast outside winter and spring.
For beachgoers, officials recommend checking verified shark activity updates before entering the water, swimming between the flags and following the advice of lifeguards and surf lifesaving patrols.
By Matt TAYLOR
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