Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289:body:0:p9
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L00289
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 26842–30029

prioritised the need for long term monitoring of the south-eastern population of southern right whales. The review also noted the impacts of large scale climate change signals in the southern hemisphere on the reproductive output of Australian southern right whales83.

The review found that objectives of the 2005–2010 Recovery Plan were not achieved in relation to expansion of southern right whales into suitable habitat. Occupancy of coastal habitats remains severely restricted in comparison to the areas occupied historically, particularly in south‑east Australia. The review recommended that the Recovery Plan be updated to reflect new knowledge including mapping of aggregation area extensions. Updated maps of species range, current and emerging aggregation areas are presented in Section 4.

Key domestic protection regimes include:

      * the Australian Whale Sanctuary was established under the EPBC Act to protect all cetaceans found in Australian waters. It is illegal to kill, injure or interfere with a cetacean. Similar protection is afforded to all cetaceans in state waters

      * environmental impact assessment processes under the EPBC Act and state legislation

      * seismic guidelines for the petroleum industry (EPBC Act Policy Statement 2.1 – Interaction between offshore seismic exploration and whales)

      * Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2005 developed by Commonwealth, state and territory governments to standardise regulation and management of commercial and recreational whale watching and provide information on the best practice

      * marine bioregional plans prepared under the EPBC Act identify and manage the conservation values of marine regions in Commonwealth waters. These values include cetacean species such as southern right whales

      * Commonwealth, state and territory governments collaboration with the fishing industry and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority to develop methods to minimise the impact of fishing on whales, including bycatch and entanglements

      * Commonwealth and state government threatened species legislation and recovery planning processes

      * the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is working with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Australian Marine Mammal Centre, Department of Defence and state government agencies to develop a ship strike mitigation strategy to reduce the likelihood and severity of ship strikes occurring in Australian waters.

1.2 Objectives and Targets of the Conservation Management Plan
Long-term recovery objective
The long-term recovery objective is to minimise anthropogenic threats to allow the conservation status of the southern right whale to improve so that it can be removed from the threatened species list under the EPBC Act.

Interim recovery objectives (2011–2021)
Recognising that the long-term recovery objective is unlikely to be achieved during the life of this plan, the following interim recovery objectives have been set for the period covered by the plan. The first three interim objectives assist in assessing the conservation status of the south-eastern