Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677:reg:12:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 12 (pt 5/33)
Character Range: 17125–20208

had one of the best breeding seasons in many years with at least 40 adults and 27 chicks recorded between January and February (E. McDonald and P. Geard pers. comm). Maintaining, and if possible, increasing the number and size of these colonies in Tasmania will be crucial to recovering this species in south-east Australia.

             Within Western Australia, there appear to be two subpopulations (Dunlop 2018). One is sedentary and based along the Pilbara and upper Gascoyne coasts from Exmouth Gulf to the Dampier Archipelago, including Barrow Island and the Montebello and Lowendal Archipelagos. These Australian Fairy Terns nest from late July to late September (Johnstone and Storr 1998, Dunlop 2018). A second, migratory subpopulation disperses south along the coastline from Shark Bay (Burbidge and Fuller 2000) to breed between the Houtman Abrolhos Islands to the Recherche Archipelago between September
             and May, with active breeding flocks appearing at various locations between October and February (Johnstone and Storr 1998). At present it is not clear what controls the recruitment of individuals to these over-lapping subpopulations (Dunlop 2018). It is also currently not known at what scale local breeding groups (which probably establish colonies at a number of sites) represent conservation management units within the migratory subpopulation (Dunlop 2018).

             Biologically Important Areas for this species occur in Australian Marine Parks, particularly in the South-west and North-west Marine Parks Networks. Under statutory management plans, Australian Marine Parks are managed for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and other natural, cultural and heritage values of marine parks, including protected species. More information about Australian Marine Parks can be found here.

   FIGURE 1 Modelled distribution of the Australian Fairy Tern

                   1.5            Population trends

             The population of Australian Fairy Terns is about 7,450 (range 6,800–8,100) mature individuals (Greenwell et al. 2021). The largest population of 5,000–6,000 in Western Australia is believed to be stable but there is no reliable historical data. In eastern Australia there have been rapid decreases. State based estimates include 900–1,150 in South Australia (DENR 2012; Cooper 2015; Stephens and Lamanna 2019; D. Paton unpublished), 100–120 pairs in Tasmania (2019/20, E.J. Woehler pers. comm. 2020), 100–150 in Victoria (Adams et al. 2019) and fewer than 50 in New South Wales (South Coast Shorebird Recovery Program 2017; Greenwell et al. 2021).

             In South Australia, a survey of 1500 km of coastline in 2011/12 found a minimum of 944 birds at 19 sites (DENR 2012). Numbers in the South Lagoon of the Coorong, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Wetland Ramsar site (the Coorong) have decreased from 1,330 individuals in 1985 to 150–300 in 2000–2007, an 82 per cent decline (Paton and
             Rogers 2009). Only 357 individuals were counted during the annual census of waterbirds in the Coorong