Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775:reg:18:p12
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 18 (pt 12/152)
Character Range: 72364–75470

and larger petrels may be at risk if offshore windfarms are constructed. Floating solar fields or deployment of solar fields over marine saltfield ponds and wastewater ponds may limit foraging opportunities for seabirds, conversely these may increase undesired roosting activity, fouling panels that may need mitigation.

 Anthropogenic disturbance

Disturbance can be defined as any activity that changes the behaviour or physiology of one or more individuals within a colony (Gӧtmark 1999; Carney and Sydeman 1999; Nisbert 2000). Disturbance of seabirds causing adverse impacts can be classified in two broad categories: recreational disturbance and investigator disturbance (see reviews Gӧtmark 1999; Carney and Sydeman 1999; Nisbert 2000; Carey 2009). Recreational disturbance can be as simple as walking a dog on a beach close to nesting colonies of terns, causing them to flush off their nests. Investigator or researcher disturbance are activities affecting individual birds or nests such as marking nests, trapping, banding and handling of adults and their young.
Studies of breeding seabirds including gulls, shearwaters, penguins, boobies, gannets and cormorants have demonstrated that excessive disturbance can reduce reproductive success, reduce chick growth, disrupt feeding ecology and change physiological parameters (Gӧtmark 1999; Carney and Sydeman 1999; Nisbert 2000; Carey 2009). Efforts to reduce disturbance from recreational activities and researchers should be managed accordingly particularly when threatened species are involved or the breeding colony is small. For example, guidelines for visitors to seabird colonies in the Great Barrier Reef (GBRMPA 1997) and Macquarie Island (Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service 2018) have been developed to support tourist operations and researchers undertaking necessary biological investigations. GBRMPA have also developed guidelines for managing research in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMPA 2019).

28 Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

Threats

Hunting

Historically, a number of seabird colonies were exploited for their eggs, chicks and adults. In northern Australia fleets of Malayan trepang fisherman took large numbers of boobies and frigatebirds as fresh meat (Serventy et al. 1971) in places such as Ashmore Reef, but this has since largely ceased with the establishment of a marine park at Ashmore Reef in 1983. Historically, Cocos (Keeling) Islanders took large numbers of seabirds at North Keeling, particularly Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) prior to establishment of Pulu Keeling National Park in 1995. Protection of migratory species under the EPBC Act has made it an offence to kill many of the birds that the Cocos-Malay community had traditionally harvested with illegal poaching of seabirds both in the park and around the southern atoll an ongoing problem. In 1998 the Australian Federal Police implemented a gun control program under the National Firearms Program Implementation Act 1998 for registered firearms in the territory. This has helped to reduce the level of poaching of