Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930:reg:2:p31
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 31/48)
Character Range: 146413–149325

which is consistent with worldwide data (Peel et al. 2018). An historical assessment of vessel strike between 1950 – 2006 involving southern right whales undertaken by Kemper et al. (2008) found two fatal and three non-fatal vessel collisions in Australian waters, although this likely provided an underestimate due to the use of mainly stranding records to assess human related mortality and injury. At present, there have been ten vessel strike reports of southern right whales in Australian waters between 1997 and 2015, with at least four mortalities including mother-calf pairs in the region of the eastern population (Kemper et al. 2008, Lanyon & Janetzki 2016, Peel et al. 2018). A presumed non-fatal vessel collision was documented by local researchers at Head of Bight in 2016, where a mother with a calf with propeller cuts on her body were photographically documented although no other reports of the interaction exist, presumably because the vessel strike went unnoticed from on-board the vessel (Peel et al. 2018).
The greatest challenge to understanding the threat of vessel strike is that many incidents go unreported for a range of reasons (e.g. particularly from large vessels that may not notice a strike), which makes quantifying the threat difficult (Peel et al. 2018, Ritter & Panigada 2019). For example, there is only one vessel strike report involving a large vessel (> 50 m) in Australian waters, yet there is evidence that collisions with larger vessels are occurring (e.g. photographs of vessel strike wounds and whale stranding's with wounds consistent of propeller cuts), therefore the lack of data is most likely a detection issue (Peel et al. 2018).
Vessel strike has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on small recovering whale populations, such as the North Atlantic right whale, whereby the mortality rate is particularly high compared to the overall population size (Conn & Silber 2013). Consequently, the threat of vessel strike in Australia is likely to be greater in the eastern population than the western population, given its small population size and overlap with highly human populated regions and Australia's largest ports (i.e., Melbourne and Sydney).
Proven effective mitigation measures for addressing vessel strike are to reduce co-occurrence of vessels with whales through separation of vessels from areas with high concentrations of whales and to reduce vessel speeds. Such measures require the identification of high risk areas through detailed studies of patterns of whale and vessel distribution (MEPC 2021). The timing of reported vessel strike incidents in Australia matches the migratory patterns of whale species (Peel et al. 2018). Mitigation actions to prevent injury and minimise disturbance from vessels to southern right whales include seasonal or temporary area restrictions/exclusions and speed restrictions in BIAs and habitat critical