Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677:reg:12:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 12 (pt 3/33)
Character Range: 11459–14698

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), and under State legislation (Table 1) in all parts of its range, except New South Wales. This species was included in the Vulnerable category under the EPBC Act in 2011 due to decreases in the number of mature individuals over much of its breeding range. Predation by introduced species, disturbance and inappropriate water level management are thought to have contributed most to this decrease.

   TABLE 1 National and state conservation status of the Australian Fairy Tern

Legislation                                                                Conservation Status
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)  Vulnerable
Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 (Tasmania)                         Vulnerable
Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Victoria)                             Critically Endangered
National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (South Australia)                    Endangered
Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (Western Australia)                    Vulnerable
Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (New South Wales)                      Not listed

1.2            Taxonomy

   The Australian Fairy Tern is conventionally accepted as Sternula nereis nereis (AFD 2019). It has been suggested that there are two subspecies on mainland Australia,
   S. n. nereis in the south-east and S. n. hornii in the south-west, although key authorities only recognise S. n. nereis in Australia (Baling and Brunton 2005; Christidis and Boles 2008; Garnett et al. 2011; AFD 2019). Genetic differences were detected between Australian Fairy Terns in Western Australia and south-eastern Australia, however, these were not sufficient to merit treatment as separate subspecies (Dunlop 2018). The highest genetic diversity was found in the largest population in Western Australia (Baling and Brunton 2005), suggesting that this region was the source for the smaller breeding groups found in south-eastern Australia.

   The distribution of the Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis) is limited to Australasia, comprising Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia (Hansen 2006; Dunlop 2018).
   Three subspecies have been identified based on phenotypic, genotypic and geographic differences. The New Zealand Fairy Tern (S. n. davise) is listed as Nationally Critical under the New Zealand Threat Classification System (Hitchmough et al. 2005; Hansen 2006).
   The New Caledonian Fairy Tern (S. n. exsul) has approximately 200–400 breeding pairs (Barre et al. 2011), and has recently been recorded in the Swain Reefs, southern Great Barrier Reef, and islands in the Coral Sea Territory, suggesting regular movements of over 1,200 km (Carter and Mustoe 2007; Garnett et al. 2011). The low genetic diversity in the satellite populations in New Zealand and New Caledonia probably reflect the small number of founders (Dunlop 2018).

1.3            Species description

   A small piscivorous (fish-eating) bird, the Australian Fairy Tern is approximately 22–27 cm in length, 70 g in mass and has a wingspan of 44–53 cm (Higgins and Davies 1996). The Australian Fairy Tern is bulky and round bodied (Simpson and Day 2004).
   The species is very similar