Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01633:body:0:p36
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01633
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 101237–104384

recovery.
These include:
    * International Whaling Commission (IWC) - ensuring that blue whales receive appropriate levels of protection outside Australian waters through involvement in the IWC and improving understanding and management of blue whale populations;
    * Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of which Australia is a member. The mission of the IPCC is to undertake a comprehensive scientific review of the current state of knowledge in climate change and assess its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts;
    * Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) - CCAMLR established a Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) in 1989 to monitor and record fishing and krill harvesting in and around Antarctica. In particular, CCAMLR focuses on addressing increases in krill catches in the Southern Ocean and the potentially serious impact of this on marine life that is dependent upon krill as food, such as the blue whale;
    * Australian Whale Sanctuary - maintaining the legislative protection afforded to blue whales by the Australian Whale Sanctuary;
    * Commonwealth Marine Protected Reserves – take a spatially explicit approach to protecting biodiversity and enhancing resilience. 10 year Management Plans set out key conservation values that include biologically important areas for species listed under the EPBC Act, including blue whales, that must be taken into account when assessing impacts of potential activities and guides research priorities;
    * Marine Bioregional Planning - aims to improve decisions made under the EPBC Act. Bioregional plans describe the marine environment and conservation values (protected species, protected places and key ecological features), sets out broad objectives for its biodiversity, identifies regional priorities, and outlines strategies and actions to achieve these. People planning to undertake activities within a marine region can use the information provided in marine bioregional plans and supporting information tools including the conservation values atlas (which maps biologically important areas for species) to determine how to mitigate the potential environmental impacts of their proposal and whether their proposal should be referred in accordance with the EPBC Act;
    * EPBC Act Assessment Process and referrals - ensuring that proposals are adequately assessed and reviewed and that appropriate measures are in place to mitigate any potential impacts on blue whales from approved activities. Assessments for offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas activities including seismic surveys in the oil and gas sector are now managed by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority;
    * State and territory legislative arrangements - regulating activities occurring in state or territory waters.
State and territory government partnerships also address the protection of blue whales by improving knowledge on blue whales observed within state and territory waters, and by maintaining and improving existing protection measures for blue whales.