Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677:reg:12:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 12 (pt 1/33)
Character Range: 5143–8751

12       References 40

    Contents

 iv National Recovery Plan for the Australian Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis nereis)

Summary

             Australian Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis nereis)

             Family: Laridae

             Current status of taxon:
               •       Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth): Vulnerable

               •       Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 (Tas): Vulnerable

               •       Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic): Critically Endangered

               •       National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (SA): Endangered

               •       Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (WA): Vulnerable

             Distribution and habitat:
             Australian Fairy Terns occur along the southern Australian coast from south of the Dampier archipelago Western Australia east to Botany Bay, New South Wales including Tasmania. The Great Australian Bight forms a gap in distribution between western and eastern subpopulations (Higgins and Davies 1996), and there are now substantial gaps amongst breeding colonies in eastern Australia, especially around the Victorian
             coastline (Garnett et al. 2011). Australian Fairy Terns use a variety of habitats including offshore, estuarine, lacustrine (lake) islands, wetlands, beaches and sand spits
             (TSSC 2011).

             Recovery plan vision, objective, and strategies:

Long-term vision

             The Australian Fairy Tern population has increased in size to such an extent that the species no longer qualifies for listing as threatened under any of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 listing criteria.

Recovery plan objective:

             By 2030, sustain a positive population trend (compared to 2020 baseline counts) in the number of mature individuals of the Australian Fairy Tern in both the eastern and western populations. This will be achieved by implementing the actions set out in this
             Recovery Plan that minimise threats while protecting the species' habitat throughout its range, adequately monitoring the species, generating new knowledge to guide recovery and increasing public awareness.

   Summary

   Strategies to achieve objectives

     1     Manage and protect known Australian Fairy Tern breeding populations at the landscape scale

     2     Develop and apply techniques to measure changes in population trend(s) in order to measure the efficacy of recovery actions

     3     Reduce, or eliminate threats at breeding, non-breeding and foraging sites

     4     Undertake research and monitoring to improve understanding of breeding,
     non-breeding and foraging ecology in order to better target management actions and habitat restoration

     5     Engage community stakeholders in Australian Fairy Tern conservation

     6     Coordinate, review and report on recovery progress

Criteria for success:
   This recovery plan will be deemed successful if, by 2030, all of the following have been achieved:
     •      The Australian Fairy Tern population has increased from 2020 baseline counts, as a result of recovery actions.
     •      Understanding of the species' ecology has increased, in particular knowledge of population size, breeding biology, movement patterns, food availability and foraging efficiency relative to colony success, habitat use including the interaction between marine and terrestrial habitat features, post-breeding dispersal and survival rates.