Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775:reg:18:p21
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 18 (pt 21/152)
Character Range: 97141–100156

et al. 1994). However, there is limited research on effects on seabirds in South Australia.
Wildlife exposure to metal contaminants may correlate with local anthropogenic emissions. Mott et al. (2017) investigated the feather mercury concentrations of adult and juvenile Lesser Frigatebirds (Fregata ariel) and Great Frigatebirds (F. minor) breeding in the eastern Indian Ocean. Low mercury concentration in juveniles relative to adults, higher mercury concentration in adult females than adult males, and a trend for Lesser Frigatebirds to have higher mercury concentration than Great Frigatebirds implicated non-breeding ground exposure as the major influence on mercury burden. The authors noted that aspects of the frigatebird foraging ecology were consistent with high exposure occurring in inshore waters of the non-breeding range, particularly in the South China Sea.
Seabirds (Fairy Prions, Pachyptila turtur) off Tasmania are known to have significantly higher cadmium levels in areas close to the source of cadmium pollution (Kemper, et al. 1994). Lavers and Bond (2013) detailed contaminant loads in Short-tailed Shearwaters, and recent studies in Tasmania and Western Australia in Little Penguins (Einoder et al. 2018; Dunlop et al unpublished data) showed high metal levels in penguin feathers from historical industrial discharges in estuarine environments.
In Western Australia, a study on Caspian Terns showed that most breeding adults had elevated levels of mercury in their tail feathers (mean 2.27 mg/kg) (Dunlop and McNeill 2017). Two of the sampled Caspian Terns had feather mercury levels above the threshold considered capable of producing deleterious effects (5 mg/kg, Burger & Gochfeld 2004); four individuals registered above 4 mg/kg (Dunlop and McNeill 2017). One bird with a feather mercury of 5.8 mg/kg was observed dying on the Peel Inlet three months after sampling, with symptoms consistent with nervous disintegration caused by mercury intoxication (Burger & Gochfeld 2004; Dunlop and McNeill 2017). These observations indicate that the Caspian Terns foraging in the southern metropolitan coastal waters of Perth may well be subject to an elevated level of mercury exposure (Dunlop and McNeill 2017). High mercury exposure would appear to be related to the increased eutrophication in these aquatic ecosystems.
The release of mercury from permafrost regions in the Arctic are likely to impact Arctic breeding seabirds that migrate to Australia. The extent to which the bio-accumulation of heavy metals reflects anthropogenic or geological sources and the role of the food chain requires further investigation in other species that breed in and migrate to Australia.

 Aquaculture

The use of coastal land and nearshore waters for various types of aquaculture may have adverse consequences for a number of species. Few major problems have yet been experienced in Australia, but in South-East Asia, where aquaculture is a major industry, species such as cormorants become regarded as