Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641:body:0:p38
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L00641
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 115665–118604

traffic areas (e.g. Marine Park (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 2008). Education and awareness campaigns have also been established to encourage recreational and commercial fishers to 'go slow for those below' in seagrass habitats. Although the outcome can be fatal for individual turtles, boat strike (as a standalone threat) has not been shown to cause stock level declines. In considering the cumulative impacts of threats on small or vulnerable stocks, it is likely to be a contributor to a stock level decline.
The Australian Government is developing a National Strategy for Mitigating Vessel Strike of Marine Mega-fauna to provide guidance on reducing the risk of vessel collisions and the impacts they may have on marine fauna.

4K Noise interference
The marine environment is becoming increasingly noisy. However, it is not known how noise affects marine turtles[175]. Vibrations and noise from underwater blasting, seismic surveys, pile driving, dredging, vessel movement, live firing exercises and underwater demolitions can create substantial noise pollution in marine turtle habitats - see review by Keevin (1997)[122]. Marine turtles do not have external ears, but potentially use sound for navigation, locating prey and avoiding predators. Dow Piniak (2012), found that green, leatherback and hawksbill turtles can detect stimuli underwater and in air up to 1600 Hz, but their greatest sensitivity appears to be between 50-400Hz depending on the species[55]. Studies have also found that the best sensitivity for loggerhead turtles is also between 100-400Hz[157]. Even with this information, very little is known of the impact of noise on marine turtles. The impact of noise on turtle stocks may vary depending on whether exposure is short (acute) or long term (chronic).

Acute noise
Acute noise, or temporary exposure to loud noise, may result in avoidance of important habitats and in some situations physical damage to turtles. Acute noise is generated by activities such as pile driving, seismic activity, some forms of dredging, explosions, blasting and sonar. There is little information pertaining to the impacts of acute noise on marine turtles. McCauley et al. (2000) reported that exposure to air gun shots that replicate seismic surveys caused green and loggerhead turtles behaviour to become more erratic at 175 dB re1 µPa rms, but that turtles may show behavioural responses to an approaching seismic noise at received sound levels of approximately 166 dB re1 µPa rms[160].
Given that the impacts of noise are unknown, a precautionary approach should be applied to seismic work, such that surveys planned to occur inside important internesting habitat should be scheduled outside the nesting season.
In accordance with the EPBC Act Policy Statement 2.1 – Interactions between Offshore Seismic Exploration and Whales: Industry Guidelines, all seismic survey vessels operating in Australian waters must undertake a soft