Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677:reg:12:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 12 (pt 6/33)
Character Range: 19948–22795

Albert Wetland Ramsar site (the Coorong) have decreased from 1,330 individuals in 1985 to 150–300 in 2000–2007, an 82 per cent decline (Paton and
             Rogers 2009). Only 357 individuals were counted during the annual census of waterbirds in the Coorong in January 2018. This result is less than in January 2015 and 2016 and
             is only a little over half of the birds that were using the Coorong in the early 2000s (Paton and Paton 2018). Australian Fairy Tern numbers have continued to decrease in the Coorong over the last five years from 300–350 adult birds to 315 individuals in
             January 2019 (Paton et al. 2019). Elsewhere in South Australia, the species disappeared from the Fleurieu Peninsula in the late 1970s and around Kangaroo Island in the early 1990s, however, small numbers are now breeding again around Kangaroo Island
             (D. Paton, pers. comm. 2020). Breeding populations in Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and near Beachport are very small with low breeding success (Garnett et al. 2011).
             One island in particular in Gulf St Vincent just 20 km north of Adelaide, Bird Island, has been monitored since 2001, and more intensively since 2015 with weekly visits over the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons (Stephens and Lamanna 2019). Bird Island had between 10 and 35 breeding pairs in early 2000s, approximately 60–80 pairs between 2015–2018 and over the 2018–19 season 50–60 pairs (Stephens and Lamanna 2019).

             In Victoria, the number of breeding pairs at French Island in Western Port Ramsar site decreased from a peak of 108 in 1993 to an average of 21 for the decade 1996–2005 (Garnett et al. 2001). Historically, colonies of over 50 breeding pairs were observed within Western Port and Port Phillip Bay Ramsar sites but numbers began to decrease in the late 1980s (Adams et al. 2019). There are currently few records documenting successful breeding attempts over the last decade within the two bays and it is thought that breeding success is poor (Adams et al. 2019). Approximately 54 adults comprising three colonies were observed within Western Port and Port Phillip Bay Ramsar sites during the 2016–17 breeding season. Only one breeding colony of 30–40 adults was observed during the 2017–18 breeding season while no breeding colonies were detected during the 2018–19 breeding season (Adams et al. 2019). In Victoria, no successful breeding has occurred in Western Port and Port Phillip Bay Ramsar sites in either the 2017–18 or 2018–19 breeding season (Adams et al. 2019). Gippsland Lakes Ramsar site continues to host breeding Australian Fairy Terns. From 2015–2018,
             114 Australian Fairy Terns chicks fledged across the Gippsland Lakes Ramsar site. This was a noteworthy increase in recruitment post sand island rehabilitation. Prior to this, numbers of