Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p26
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 81982–85018

increase in the risk of extreme flooding events[61], which can exacerbate the mobilisation of sediment and chemicals into the marine environment.
Changes to ocean circulation patterns and altered marine food webs will have substantial impacts on turtles during multiple phases of their lifecycle. For example, the El Niño Southern Oscillation Index is strongly correlated with the number of green turtles nesting in the Great Barrier Reef each year, presumably due to food resource availability in the two years prior to nesting[143]. Changes to the length and frequency of El Niño periods may therefore influence marine turtle re-migration intervals, potentially reducing a stock's ability to recover from other impacts.
Ocean acidification may have an impact on carbonate sediment production, which in turn will affect the volume and characteristics of nesting beaches, particularly in and around coral reefs[45, 68]. Changes in water pH may also affect foraging habitat and food availability for turtles that forage in coral reefs or feed on calcifying organisms[96].
While some impacts have been observed, such as changes in breeding phenology, altered distribution, and evolution of thermal thresholds[159], there still is uncertainty with regard to how marine turtles will respond to climate change impacts.
To address the broad implications of climate change, the Australian Government is investing in climate change and environmental research through avenues such as the National Environmental Science Programme to help decision-makers understand and manage likely climate change impacts across all ecosystems and species. Within Australia, many business, industries, NGOs, individuals and communities are actively undertaking measures to reduce their carbon footprint.

4B Marine debris
Floating non-degradable debris, such as lost or discarded fishing gear (e.g. discarded nets, crab pots, synthetic ropes, floats, hooks, fishing line and wire trace), land-sourced garbage (e.g. plastic bags and bottles) and ship-sourced materials disposed of at sea (e.g. fibreglass, insulation) can pose a threat to marine turtles at all life stages through entanglement and ingestion[9, 28]. Onshore, marine debris can be so extensive that nesting beaches are buried by waste, making it difficult for turtles to nest and creating obstacles for emerging hatchlings[249]. While large numbers of marine turtles are known to ingest plastic[204], the stock level risk from ingestion is, at this stage unknown. The emerging threat from micro-plastics is of particular concern due to exposure to compounds adhered to tiny plastic particles[218].
Marine debris causing entanglement and ingestion was recognised in 2003 as a key threatening process for marine vertebrates under the EPBC Act. This led to the development of the Threat Abatement Plan for the impacts of marine debris on vertebrate marine life (Marine Debris TAP).
Community action is a major factor in abating the immediate threats posed to wildlife by marine debris through clean up