Central Great Barrier Reef Shark Nursery Survey Catch Data (2011-2014)

NERP TE 6.2 and JCU collected catch data from seasonal gillnet and longline surveys of shark nursery areas in the Central Great Barrier Reef Marine Park between 2011 and 2014. The dataset includes 453 longline shots and 343 gill-net shots deployed over 183 days across nine bays along the Queensland coastline. Captured sharks were identified to species, tagged, measured, and released, with environmental data recorded for each set.

Use Cases

• Modeling shark species distribution based on seasonal catch data from gillnet and longline surveys.
• Analyzing shark community composition across different habitat types and management zones mentioned in the description.
• Studying the relationship between environmental variables (water temperature, salinity, depth) and shark presence.
• Assessing the effectiveness of seasonal sampling for monitoring shark nursery areas.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned eight survey rounds between October 2011 and November 2013, providing seasonal coverage.
• Surveys covered nine bays along approximately 400 km of coastline, offering spatial breadth.
• Methodology included two sampling techniques (gillnets and longlines) to capture a broad range of shark sizes.
• Environmental data (water temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, oxygen saturation) were recorded for all sets.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the nine sampled bays in the Central Great Barrier Reef.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Fisheries-independent surveys using bottom-set gill-nets and longlines deployed in 0.9 km wide strips perpendicular to shore.

Time Range

2011-2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 22:35:29.585413; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Central Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, specifically nine bays along the tropical north Queensland coastline.