Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289:body:0:p21
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 65585–68717

migrate to the coast each year83. The winter distribution of whales not appearing on the Australian coast is unknown, and the absence of reproductively mature females indicates that this winter distribution may include offshore breeding (conception) habitat.

Spatial
In Australian coastal waters southern right whales occur along the southern coastline of Australia including Tasmania, generally as far north as Sydney (33°53'S, 151°13'E) on the east coast and Perth (31°55'S, 115°50'E) on the west coast. There are occasional occurrences further north, with the extremities of range recorded as Hervey Bay (25°00'S, 152°50'E)42 and Exmouth (22°23'S, 114°07'E)13. In coastal habitat these whales are generally within two kilometres off shore.

Across the coastal range spatial distribution is distinctly clumped and whales aggregate in predictable locations as illustrated in Section 4.217,18. Aggregation areas are well known with the largest being Doubtful Island Bay area in WA (38°15'S, 119°32'E), Israelite Bay area in WA (33°37'S, 123°53'E) and Head of Bight in SA (31°28'S, 131°08'E); several smaller established areas (regularly occupied) occur at Yokinup Bay in WA (33°53'S, 123°05'E) and the Warrnambool region in Vic (38° 25'S, 142°30'E); and emerging aggregation areas (sporadically used at present) occur at Flinders Bay (34°20'S, 115°15'E), Hassell Beach (34°49'S, 118°24'E), Cheyne/Wray Bays (34°32'S, 118°55'E), and Twilight Cove (32°17'S, 126°02'E) in WA, Fowlers Bay (31°59' 132°28'E) and Encounter Bay (35°35'S, 138°40'E) in SA84. A number of additional areas for southern right whales are emerging which might be of importance, particularly to the south-eastern population. In these areas, small, but growing numbers of non-calving whales regularly aggregate for short periods of time. These areas include coastal waters off Peterborough, Port Campbell, Port Fairy and Portland in Victoria; Great Oyster Bay and Frederick Henry Bay in Tasmania; Storm Bay and Sleaford Bay in South Australia; and Twofold Bay and Jervis Bay in NSW48,60,91,104.

Calving aggregations occur over a wide environmental range, but habitat providing some degree of protection from prevailing weather conditions is generally preferred84. Southern right whales vary their habitat use according to local environmental conditions, optimising their distribution within aggregation areas on high energy coastlines to minimise exposure to rough sea conditions84. Depth is the most influential determinant of habitat selection at a fine-scale within aggregation areas, with whales preferentially occupying water less than 10 metres deep84. Habitat selection at a fine-scale is also affected by internal population factors, with differential use of habitat according to breeding status and behaviour84.

Spatial recovery
Soviet whaling fleets are thought to have illegally taken over 3000 southern right whales in the 1960s94, which is estimated to have removed more than half the remaining population and substantially delayed the recovery of the population 53, 87. Habitat occupancy contracted substantially as a result of commercial whaling,