Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L01285:reg:13:p54
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L01285
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 13 (pt 54/98)
Character Range: 374655–377616

adults undertook long trips of up to 19 days south of Macquarie Island, often covering thousands of kilometres to areas south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Trebilco et al. 2008). As the chicks hatched, the length of the foraging trips decreased and birds spent more time close to Macquarie Island. Throughout the colder months, immature birds and most adults disperse widely. Some adults are mainly sedentary, remaining close to their breeding islands throughout the year. Nonetheless, numbers diminish at all sites over winter, with the Antarctic colonies being almost completely abandoned. The waters off south-east Australia may be particularly important wintering grounds with most Southern Giant Petrel (over 80%) sighted off south-east Australia being immature birds (Marchant & Higgins 1990, Reid et al. 2002).

Species distribution in Australia

Southern Giant Petrel nests on Heard Island, McDonald Islands and Macquarie Island, as well as in the AAT (Figure 5). Tracking and banding studies indicate that dispersal is circumpolar from the Tropic of Capricorn to Antarctica and includes southern and sub-Antarctic Australia, and the AAT (BirdLife International 2004, van den Hoff 2011, ACAP 2012s). During the breeding cycle, birds on Macquarie Island generally forage southwards to the Antarctic ice edge or eastwards to South America (Patterson & Hunter 1999, Trebilco et al. 2008).
The size of the breeding populations of Southern Giant Petrel on Heard Island, McDonald Island and Macquarie Island before human visitation is unknown. Harvesting of eggs and/or birds may have occurred during the 19th Century while the islands were occupied by sealers (Cumpston 1968, Townrow 1988, Downes 2002). Southern Giant Petrel is subject to ongoing long-term monitoring on Macquarie Island with the number of breeding pairs estimated to be between 1450-2180 pairs in 2019/20 based on estimated numbers of pre-fledging chicks, and long-term breeding success estimated at 50 ± 10% (DPIPWE 2021a). The population breeding on Heard Island has not been systematically surveyed since 1988 when there were around 3150 breeding pairs on the island (Kirkwood et al. 1995). The population on McDonald Island was last estimated in 1979 when around 1400 breeding pairs were recorded (DSEWPC 2011b). Visits to McDonald Islands are not permitted, as the location is subject to intermittent volcanic activity (Stephenson et al. 2005, Commonwealth of Australia 2014).
Southern Giant Petrel colonies are found in the AAT: 237 breeding pairs were estimated at the Frazier Islands, Wilkes Land in 2011 (ATCM 2013), four occupied nests occurred at Giganteus Island, Mac.Robertson Land in 2007 (ATCM 2015), and about 23 breeding pairs were estimated at Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land in 2014 (ATCM 2016).

Population estimates and trends

The breeding population of Southern Giant Petrel on Macquarie Island is considered stable based on a TRIM analysis (Pannekoek