Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775:reg:18:p68
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00775
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 18 (pt 68/152)
Character Range: 228146–231030

different seasons, which may be in response to seasonal changes in prey abundance (Marchant & Higgins 1990). Given the long breeding cycle, breeding pairs typically breed two in every three years if successful.

Population Estimates and Trends
Due to the long breeding cycle of King Penguins, breeding is asynchronous within a colony and proportion of birds present do not breed. Consequently, it can be difficult to accurately estimate the total number of breeding pairs in a colony. Given these caveats, the total population of the King Penguin was estimated to be approximately 1.64 million pairs in the late 1990s (Ellis et al. 1998). The largest breeding aggregations have been recorded at Iles Crozet (700,000 pairs in 1992) (Woehler and Croxall 1997), Iles Kerguelen (240,000–280,000 pairs in 1987), Prince Edward Island (228,000 pairs in 1979) (Marchant and Higgins 1990) and South Georgia (400,000 pairs in mid-1990s) (Woehler and Croxall 1997). However, while some populations subsequently showed population increases (e.g. South Georgia increased by 11 per cent per annum since 1985-86; Woehler and Croxall 1997, Woehler et al. 2001), recent surveys have shown dramatic decreases at some sites. e.g. 88 per cent decrease from c. 500,000 pairs to 60,000 pairs at Ile aux Cochons, Iles Crozet over past 50 years (Weimershirch et al. 2018). Numbers at the Prince Edward Islands were estimated to be 65,000 breeding pairs at Marion Island and 2,000 pairs at Prince Edward Island in 2008 (Crawford et al. 2009), far below the estimates from 1979.

Species profiles

The Macquarie Island breeding aggregation increased at a rate of 9.7 per cent per annum between 1930–80, reaching 130,000 pairs by the mid-1990s (Marchant and Higgins 1990; Woehler and Croxall 1997), however this population increase has not continued (Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service unpublished data). At Macquarie Island, the number of chicks is estimated annually as a proxy for population trend estimates and, from 2007–2019, chick numbers in August ranged from 33,000–80,000 chicks per annum (Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service unpublished data). On Heard Island, where the species was believed to have been extirpated in the nineteenth century, the aggregation increased at rate of 15.1 per cent per annum from 1963–80 and >20 per cent per annum between 1980–1993, to reach a total size of 16,345 pairs at that time (Marchant and Higgins 1990; Woehler and Croxall 1997).

Conservation Concerns and Actions
The King Penguin was formerly hunted for oil and the species was extirpated in the nineteenth century from several breeding locations, including Heard Island. However, the species has since re-established. The main threat for this species in recent years is climate change with warming oceans resulting in a decline in breeding success and adult survival (Le Bohec et al