Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775:reg:18:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 18 (pt 2/152)
Character Range: 44558–47592

as a result of the action must be considered.

 Habitat modification

Seabirds are sensitive to subtle changes to their habitat. In particular, many have specialised feeding techniques making them susceptible to slight changes in prey availability or to their foraging environments. An activity that reduces the ability of seabirds to use an area for breeding, roosting or foraging, or reduces the availability of food, degrades habitat may have adverse impacts on the population. These impacts include (among others):
    alteration of nesting trees, ground substrate or burrows, sand spits used for roosting or inshore feeding areas such as seagrass beds, estuaries and coastal wetlands;
    substantial loss of marine or estuarine vegetation which is likely to alter the dynamic equilibrium of sediment banks and mudflats;

       invasion of coastal weeds;

    livestock (i.e. trampling burrows) and fire management at nesting areas, including on islands;
    water pollution and changes to the water regime, including the construction of dams and water management;
    artificial changes to hydrological regimes that affect the productivity of the feeding environment (for example, changes in water depth); and

       exposure of acid sulphate soils changing the chemical balance of the area.

20 Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

Threats

Climate variability and change
Climate change
Most extreme climatic events are beyond our immediate control, but it is important to monitor their effects on seabirds, particularly in the long term, in order to understand the background of natural influences against which to judge anthropogenic influences (Ross et al. 1996). The implications of extreme climatic events for Australian and Southern Hemisphere seabirds have been described by Chambers et al. (2011, 2013, 2014) and by Rodriguez et al. (2019) for petrels and shearwaters.

Climate change is a threat that impacts many marine organisms including seabirds. The 'Loss of climatic habitat caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases' has been declared a Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act. The threat is described as reductions in the bioclimatic range within which a species or ecological community exists due to emissions induced by human activities of greenhouse gases. The listing of this threat recognises that it is occurring at a continental scale. Components of the process include: temperature rise; changes in rainfall patterns; changes to the El Niño Southern Oscillation; and sea level rise. Consequences to seabirds could include negative impacts from an increase in extreme weather events, reduced or changed prey abundance and distribution, and decrease in nesting habitat.

Changes to marine ecosystems have been linked to strengthening warm currents and ocean warming (Ridgway 2007; Steinacher et al. 2010; Wu et al. 2012). In Australia, marine productivity has decreased as a result of the strengthening East Australian Current and warming waters