Drone records point to seasonal juvenile hammerhead gatherings at two southeast Queensland beaches

Analyzing gatherings through 20,911 drone flights

Researchers analyzed 20,911 SharkSmart drone flights across nine beaches from September 2020 through December 2024. They reported 84 sightings of scalloped hammerheads, totaling 2,696 observations; individual sharks may have been counted more than once. Groups of up to 80 were recorded at Burleigh Beach, while the largest estimated group at Noosa Main Beach was 100. The largest gatherings were recorded in April through June.

The records cannot establish whether the same sharks returned each year, how long they stayed, or whether either beach qualifies as a nursery ground.

The reported analysis identifies Burleigh Beach and Noosa Main Beach as sites where juvenile scalloped hammerheads repeatedly formed large seasonal groups, rather than appearing chiefly alone or in pairs as they generally did at the other surveyed beaches.

The reported patterns may identify coastal habitat important to juvenile scalloped hammerheads, a species classified globally as critically endangered. The researchers did not determine why the sharks gathered and called for longer-term monitoring, including acoustic tagging.