Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01633:body:0:p32
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whales in this region. Blue whales in the Bonney Upwelling region regularly feed at the surface on krill aggregations and are likely to be more vulnerable to ship strike.
It is likely this risk will increase as shipping traffic grows, and the impact on an individual could have a significant, potentially population-scale effect, especially as the population numbers of blue whales in Australian waters is not known. The Australian Government is currently developing a national ship strike strategy and developed an online National Ship Strike Database to report any incidents8.
Whale Watching
Although whale watching can provide educational, conservation and economic benefits, there are also potential negative side effects such as disturbance and physical injury to whales39. As blue whale numbers increase, there may be more incentive for increased commercial whale watching targeting blue whales. Generally the whales need to be close to the coast for commercial whale watching to be practical; therefore blue whales offshore, such as in the Perth Canyon, are less likely to be targeted. While whale watching of blue whales currently occurs off Geographe Bay, the commercial viability of this operation is likely due to the presence of humpback whales that are present at the same time and more commonly sighted and targeted. Helicopter-based whale watching targeted blue whales off Portland between 2007-10.
Whale watching in Australia is regulated by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Regulations and reflected in the Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2005 which have been developed to reduce impacts from whale watching on whales.

5F Overharvesting of prey
The abundance of krill is affected by many key factors including; fisheries, predator-prey nutrient cycling, and climate change.
Antarctic krill, the prey of the Antarctic blue whale subspecies, are the primary Southern Hemisphere species of krill harvested by the krill fishery. It is predicted that expanding the Antarctic krill fishery may cause a slower Antarctic blue whale population recovery from whaling114. The Commission established under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) manages the krill fishery catch limits using a precautionary, ecosystem-level sustainable approach that aims to prevent or minimise negative impacts of the krill fishery on natural krill predators. Australia is a Member of the Commission, and krill fishery catch limits off the Australian Antarctic Territory are managed through the Commission. Continuation of CCAMLR's precautionary ecosystem-level approach in setting krill catch limits should minimise the threat of krill fisheries to Antarctic blue whales.
Antarctic krill abundance may have decreased in the Southern Ocean due to the decrease in predator abundance from whaling. This apparent paradoxical relationship may exist because baleen whales release iron stores in krill through their faeces and thereby increase ocean productivity109.