Shark 593 tracker

November 17, 2022

Meet Shark 593 !

White Shark, Male, 379cm long at time of capture
Tagged with Acoustic and Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSAT) on 23/05/21, at Lennox Head, NSW via SMART drumline,
Total distance travelled while tagged: 10,420km, average daily distance: 87km
Maximum depth: 640m, average depth: 85m

Shark 593 was our most nomadic shark, travelling a staggering 10,420km – as a comparison, it’s nearly 4000km via road from Sydney to Perth!

After being tagged, he swam 20kms+ away from the coast and then headed north to Queensland. He roamed 80-280km offshore between Agnes Water and Yeppoon and as far north as the Capricorn and Bunker Group at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.

He then turned south in July 2021, leaving the warm Queensland waters and heading to the cooler southern NSW and Victorian waters by the end of August. This is consistent with the seasonal White shark movements we have seen since commencing our SMART drumline program in 2015.

As this shark moved south, he was recorded as far as 315km east of Sydney before moving closer to the continental shelf edge and continuing his journey south. He continued to roam offshore waters in the Tasman Sea during Spring, between southern NSW, eastern Victoria and northeast Tasmania, until the tag popped off as programmed in September 2021.

This collaborative research project between NSW DPI Fisheries scientist (Dr Paul Butcher) and researchers from Deakin University (Dr Justin Rizzari and honours student Jess Coxon) help provide important information about this species.

You can also follow the SharkSMART Instagram page here – https://www.instagram.com/nsw_sharksmart/?hl=en

Watch the full video on the NSW DPI Fisheries facebook page: https://fb.watch/gRqN0aQHS_/

For more information about our NSW shark mitigation program, visit www.sharksmart.nsw.gov.au