Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930:reg:2:p16
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 16/48)
Character Range: 105120–108153

Australia in the region of 30°S and 65°S within three likely foraging grounds; south-west of WA, waters associated with the Subtropical Front, and Antarctic waters (Childerhouse 2010, Mackay et al. 2020, Riekkola et al. 2021). Preliminary findings from stable isotope analyses suggest remarkable consistency in the distribution of southern right whales in mid latitude (< 40°S) foraging areas across the past two centuries. Foraging in high latitudes (> 60°S), however, appear to have undergone recent changes in the past two decades. While there has been an estimated 19 percent decline in the foraging surface area extending to 60°S for the Australian western population, there has been an increase of 25 percent for the eastern population to high latitude foraging areas (Derville et al. 2023). Satellite tagging studies indicate variability in migratory pathways undertaken by populations of southern right whales utilising Australian and N.Z. waters. Southern right whales tagged from southwest Australia (Albany, Augusta) demonstrate tracks from the Australian coastline to areas in the Southern Ocean, including Kerguelen Islands, Iles Crozet and Antarctic waters. Southern right whales tagged at Auckland Islands of New Zealand demonstrated consistent westward migratory movements to offshore waters south of the Head of the Bight and WA (Riekkola et al. 2021).
A strong correlation between environmental conditions (e.g., sea surface temperature anomalies) at right whale high latitude feeding grounds and female reproductive success and calving rates and recovery on their winter breeding grounds has been observed (Leaper et al. 2006, Meyer-Gutbrod et al. 2015, Seyboth et al. 2016). Similar effects have been demonstrated for the Australian population by Pirzl et al. (2008), where annual calf production has been linked to variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), with reduced reproductive output associated with El Niño conditions on a 2.5 to 3-year time lag. The fluctuation of prey abundance on summer high latitude foraging areas has been linked with climate cycles and ocean warming resulting from anthropogenic climate change (Pirzl et al. 2008, Dedden & Rogers 2022), with low prey abundance having a negative impact on reproductive success and calving rates of southern right whales. It is suggested that variation in calving rate may be influenced by climate factors impacting changes to calving intervals (Pirzl et al. 2009), which could become evident through pronounced inter-annual variation in whale numbers on the coastal breeding areas (Charlton et al. 2021, Charlton et al. 2022, Smith et al. 2022). Whether these correlations explain recent fluctuations in breeding cycles reported for breeding females at Head of Bight (Charlton et al. 2022) is unknown.

2.10   Biologically important areas and habitat critical to survival

     2.10.1     Biologically Important Areas
Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) for southern right whales were originally developed as part of the Commonwealth