Between 1947 and 1956 a study lead by Mick Olsen resulted in 6502 school and 587 gummy sharks being tagged in south-east Australia. Most of the school shark were tagged in inshore bays and estuaries, notably Port Phillip Bay, Port Sorell, Georges Bay and Pittwater. Most of the gummy shark were tagged in inshore areas around Flinders Island and the north coast of Tasmania. A total of 594 school shark and 60 gummy shark were recaptured. This data set includes field sheets and the tags returned to CSIRO. These records are cataloged in the TRIM Records database, as follows: AB2008/1038: CMAR - School and Gummy Shark Tagging by CSIRO in Southern Australia 1947-1956 - Mick Olsen and Grant West - MarLIN record 8218 This Archive Box number incorporates 2 containers: "C2008/6921-01: CMAR - School and Gummy Shark Tagging by CSIRO in Southern Australia 1947-1956 - Mick Olsen and Grant West - MarLIN record 8218 - Part 1 - Tag Data Field Sheets" [associated files lodged within as separate objects]; and "C2008/6921-02: CMAR - School and Gummy Shark Tagging by CSIRO in Southern Australia 1947-1956 - Mick Olsen and Grant West - MarLIN record 8218 - Part 2 - Tags and Olsen Card Index [in metal filing cabinet]"
46 school shark were tagged with archival tags during 1997-98, in South Australian and Tasmanian waters. 19 tags were recovered. The tags yielded 15.3 years of data on light level, depth and temperature collected at 4 minute intervals. The basic release-recapture data has been entered into the CSIRO pelagic tag data base but not the actual electronic data. The electronic data for the Lotek tags is in a different format to that of the Wildlife Computer tags, and may require dedicated geolocation software to process. Wildlife Computers provides geolocation software for their tags free of charge. While longitudinal movements have been described, there was no analysis of corresponding latitudes, as light-based latitude estimation was unreliable. There is scope for additional research into latitudinal movements based on the depth data. The depth pattern shown by the sharks can be used to examine if the fish was close to the bottom, and combined with a longitude estimate for a particular day, latitude can be estimated as across much of southern Australia where depth increases with latitude. However, there is a software development challenge associated with this, as there may be more than one depth fit for a particular longitude, especially towards eastern Australia. In this eastern region the restricted depth of Bass Strait can provide additional information on the latitude, as fish data at >86m indicates that it was too deep for Bass Strait. An additional factor that was not examined was the temperature data from the tags. In pelagic species surface water temperature is used to estimate latitude and at times school shark do come close to the surface. Some of the tags were set up to record internal as well as external temperatures but this data was not examined. There have been 2 recaptures of Wildlife Computers tags since West & Stevens (1996) published the results. There have also been two Lotek tags returned since this publication but the data for these tags was corrupted.
This record describes the datasets obtained on Courageous Cruise 010. The data were obtained from South Australian, Victorian and Bass Strait waters in July 1976. Data were obtained from acoustic and trawl surveys of Jack mackerel (Trachurus declivis) and other demersal and pelagic fish, including Gemfish (Rexea solandri), Macruronus novaezelandiae, deep water flathead, ling, jackass fish and several species of sharks including school shark, gummy shark, ghost shark and green eye. Several tusk fish (Dannevigia tusca) were caught and retained for further study. A rare fish Neophrynichthys marcidus was also obtained from the deepest trawl (0470-0748 metres). Some XBT data were obtained on this cruise. Additional information regarding this dataset is contained in the cruise summary for this voyage.(derived from the cruise report) - Biological Field Data Sheets recorded during this voyage have been scanned to PDF, and are available (to CSIRO Staff) on-line. See the details link under "Stored Media List" (below).