Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01633:body:0:p22
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01633
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 59822–62925

and Cape Otway, VIC (both part of the Bonney Upwelling system), and the Perth Canyon, WA form the known feeding aggregation habitats for pygmy blue whales in Australia. Historical catch data and limited satellite tagging data suggest that the Southern Tropical Convergence may also constitute important feeding habitat for these whales.
Waters off Antarctica (including off the Australian Antarctic Territory) form the known feeding aggregation habitat for Antarctic blue whales.
Migratory Pathways
Migratory pathways are required for movement between breeding and feeding grounds. Pygmy blue whales feeding off Australia use at least the west coast of Australia as a migratory route72 and have been sighted travelling west along the south-western tip of Australia, and some Antarctic blue whales likely use at least Cape Leeuwin, at least occasionally, as part of their migratory route to breeding grounds106.
Anthropogenic disturbances along migratory routes may have unanticipated consequences as overcoming such disturbances depends on whether blue whales have the ability to adapt their migratory routes. The capability of changing migratory patterns has been suggested for north-east Pacific blue whales21. However, it is unknown whether the ability to adapt migratory routes is individual, species, subspecies, or population specific.

4.3 Attributes to be Monitored
Monitoring of abundance is required to determine population trends and recovery so that they can be evaluated against interim and long-term recovery objectives. Other attributes may need to be monitored in the future if new threats evolve or existing threats increase.
Pygmy blue whale population
Long-term monitoring of the abundance and population trends of pygmy blue whales needs to be initiated. The degree of connectivity (e.g. genetic) between populations needs to be assessed to determine the level of mixing both within Australian populations and between the Australian populations and other Southern Hemisphere populations. Furthermore, habitat usage patterns should be measured to determine whether there is structure (e.g. individual preferences) across the distribution range of a population, as this variation may affect abundance and population trend estimates.

Antarctic blue whale population
The abundance of the Antarctic blue whale population has been monitored off Antarctica, including off the Australian Antarctic Territory, through the International Decade of Cetacean Research (IDCR) and the Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research (SOWER) cruises conducted by the IWC from 1978/79 to 2009/10 seasons14.
Continued research is required as the most recent abundance estimate is now nearly 20 years out of date, and there is substantial uncertainty regarding the annual rate of increase of this population.
In 2008, the Australian Government proposed a Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP) to the IWC and SORP was established in 2009, to conduct non-lethal, multi-national scientific research of cetaceans in the Southern Ocean. Two SORP research projects have been established to conduct further