Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L01089:reg:20:p18
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L01089
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 20 (pt 18/33)
Character Range: 80284–83617

Act for the South-west, North-west, North and Temperate East marine regions of Commonwealth waters around Australia. Each marine bioregional plan describes the conservation values of the region and identifies and characterises the pressures affecting these conservation values. The plans also identify regional priorities and outline strategies to address them. As part of the marine bioregional planning process, the grey nurse shark has been identified as a conservation value of regional priority in both the South-west and Temperate East marine regions. In addition, Schedule 2 of both the South-west Marine Bioregional Plan and the Temperate East Marine Bioregional Plan include guidance for people planning to undertake actions which have the potential to impact on grey nurse sharks within these regions. Further information on marine bioregional planning is available on the department's website at: www.environment.gov.au/coasts/marineplans/index.html

DoE, as the Australian Government department responsible for administering the EPBC Act, maintains a suite of interactive tools that allow users to search, find and generate reports on matters of national environmental significance, including the grey nurse shark. The conservation values atlas of each marine bioregional plan shows the location and spatial extent of conservation values (where sufficient information exists) and is available at: www.environment.gov.au/coasts/marineplans/cva/index.html. Further information about the grey nurse shark is available on the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) at: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl. This database includes links to conservation value report cards which were developed to support the information provided in each marine bioregional plan.

As part of the marine bioregional planning process, biologically important areas (BIAs) have been identified for a number of species, including the grey nurse shark. BIAs are areas that are particularly important for the conservation of protected species and where aggregations of individuals display biologically important behaviour such as breeding, foraging, resting or migration. The presence of the observed behaviour is assumed to indicate that the habitat required for the behaviour is also present. BIAs have been identified using expert scientific knowledge about species' distribution, abundance and behaviour in the region, and BIA maps and descriptions for the grey nurse shark are available in the conservation values atlas: www.environment.gov.au/coasts/marineplans/cva/index.html

    10.2 Commonwealth marine reserves

Marine reserves are parts of the ocean that are managed primarily for the conservation of their ecosystems, habitats and the marine life they support. They form the Commonwealth component of Australia's National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. This system is comprised of five regional networks of Commonwealth Marine Reserves (South-east; South-west; North-west; North and Temperate east) and the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve. Considered together, the Commonwealth marine reserve networks and the Coral Sea reserve protect examples of all of Australia's different marine ecosystems and habitats. Further information about the Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network is available at: