Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930:reg:2:p34
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 34/48)
Character Range: 154713–157703

their proportion of time spent resting and increase the proportion of time spent travelling in the presence of "swim with interactions", with mothers and calves being most sensitive to the presence of swimmers (Lundquist et al. 2013).

    3.6.2     Recreational vessels and waterborne activities
Disturbance from opportunistic (e.g., sightseeing, fishing, scuba diving) and private recreational vessels and watercraft (e.g., jet skis), or others, may negatively affect whale populations over time as an incidental consequence of the primary activity being undertaken. This may occur from associated waterborne and in-water activities such as swimmers in the water or the presence/noise of the vessel. The shallow waters and protected embayments preferred by southern right whales resting and weaning calves often overlap favoured areas by recreational water users and waterborne activities, including swimmers, kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and small motorised vessels (i.e., jet-skis). Mother and calf pairs resting in these areas are at potential risk of disturbance from recreational users which may result in displacement from these areas. The Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2017 and State and Territory approach guidelines define standards for the approach distances of all vessels to whales and dolphins to reduce disturbance and potential risk of vessel collisions.
Figure 9 A southern right whale mother and calf responding to surfers at Manly Beach (NSW) with a tail flick in August 2020.
© Thom and Lianne @whatifwefly.

   3.7         Whaling
Right whales were a primary target of whalers from the mid-16th century to late 20th century and the near extirpation of many southern right whale populations from commercial whaling has been well documented (Reeves & Smith 2003, Jackson et al. 2008) (section 2.3). Commercial whaling of southern right whales is currently banned under the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling, and protection is afforded due to their classification by the IWC as 'Protected Stocks'. It is currently unlikely that commercial whaling in areas covered by the IWC Southern Ocean Sanctuary will resume, however, there is no certainty that countries not part of the IWC may not renew whaling interests in these areas in the future.

   3.8         Prey depletion
Southern right whales rely on krill and copepods as a major food source, and as capital breeders require adequate supplies of food to accumulate energy reserves for migration and breeding (Bannister et al. 1997, Tormosov et al. 1998).

    3.8.1     Prey depletion from climate change
Climate change and ocean warming are projected to reduce available krill habitat in the Southern Ocean (section 3.1), with contraction to their southern limits and resulting in possible declines in abundance and/or biomass (Murphy et al. 2017, Atkinson et al. 2019, Veytia et al. 2021). Climate change alters the extent and structure of sea-ice environments, and krill are