Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289:body:0:p20
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 62748–65866

of slow recovery in the south-east Australian population, with sightings apparently increasing gradually over the last 10 years in a few locations in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania35. However, sighting records for the Warrnambool region -a principle calving area- show no increase in the numbers of mothers and calves using the area since 1985104 and abundance in south-eastern Australia remains very low in comparison with expectations based on historical evidence of occupation84.

In addition to abundance trends, spatial and temporal occupancy of habitat are important measures of the species recovery (see below).

Distribution, habitat occupancy and function
Southern right whales have a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Hemisphere between about 16°S and 65°S. Calving/nursery grounds occur in a broad latitudinal band between 16°S and 52°S53. Calving/nursery areas appear to be exclusively coastal, either off continental land masses or oceanic islands. These are occupied during late autumn, winter and early spring and other near-shore waters connecting calving/nursery areas are also occupied at that time. Foraging and feeding occurs in a similarly broad, but slightly more southerly latitudinal band between at least 32°S84 and 65°S85. Foraging/feeding is coastal or offshore, depending on oceanographic features, although most is probably offshore associated with large-scale features such as the Sub-Tropical and Polar Fronts15, 28, 63, 72.

Considerable latitudinal overlap of calving/nursing and foraging/feeding areas means that migration between the two is not necessarily one from lower to higher latitudes as traditionally thought. To date, satellite tagging indicates westward migration from Auckland Island wintering grounds37; both northward and southward migration from South African wintering grounds26,64; and southward migration from Australian (one tag) wintering grounds3. An offshore distribution is expected throughout the year for the component of the population that does not migrate to the coast in winter.

Temporal
In Australia, calving/nursery grounds are occupied from May to October (occasionally as early as April and as late as November), but not at other times. Female-calf pairs generally stay within the calving ground for 2–3 months33. Other population classes stay for shorter and variable periods33, moving about more from place to place on the coast31 and generally departing the coast earlier than female-calf pairs (most have left by September).

Coastal visitation varies between years probably due to cohort structured breeding and environmental variability18, 83, 84. Substantial changes in the number of whales recorded on the coast from year to year18 and the absence of reproductively mature females in virtually all years between calving events, indicates that not all whales migrate to the coast each year83. The winter distribution of whales not appearing on the Australian coast is unknown, and the absence of reproductively mature females indicates that this winter distribution may include offshore breeding (conception) habitat.

Spatial
In Australian