Dolphin pod on the move |
ABC
News, 31
January 2018:
Marine scientists
monitoring the waters along the northern New South Wales coastline say the
threat of sharks is overblown and they have the data to prove it.
The National Marine
Science Centre at Southern Cross University and the NSW Department of Primary
Industries (DPI) collected two years' worth of drone footage as part of the
State Government's Shark Management Strategy.
Professor Brendan
Kelaher and his team tracked marine wildlife at locations known for shark bite
incidents including Lennox Head, Ballina, Byron Bay and Evans Head.
To their delight, they
found a thriving and vibrant marine ecosystem and very few "dangerous
sharks" among the estimated 4,000 large marine animals they counted.
"One of the
outcomes of our data ... we know it's up to 135 times more likely to be a
dolphin, which is really good news," Mr Kelaher said.
"Sharks are a
little few and far between and what we saw was this other diverse wildlife,
which we're excited about."
The drone cameras
captured scenes of whales coming close to shore to feed and schools of
dolphins.
One of the most
breathtaking sights, Mr Kelaher said, were fevers of cownose rays congregating
near surfers in complex geometric patterns.
Less common were sharks,
which typically took hundreds of flights before one was spotted.
Cownose Rays |
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