Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677:reg:12:p19
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00677
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 12 (pt 19/33)
Character Range: 56388–59668

for attracting terns to a preferred location are an appropriate nesting habitat type, overflying terns in breeding condition and sufficient prey resources within the economic foraging range (Dunlop 2018).

   Preferred nesting sites for Australian Fairy Terns, whether natural or artificial, need to be identified by experienced personnel in their respective regions. There will need to be a number of alternatives reflecting the variability in productive foraging locations. Local surveillance will be needed to detect which sites may have Australian Fairy Terns in nuptial plumage passing through or using the selected location. These terns will need to be actively foraging within about 2 km of the potential nesting area. If these pre-conditions are met, a decoy colony could be effectively deployed in the preferred nesting area (Dunlop 2018).

   Experience suggests that the decoys mimicking incubating birds should be deployed at about double natural colony-spacing (Dunlop 1987). This equates to about 4 m intervals for Australian Fairy Terns (Dunlop 2018). This will encourage the first tern pairs to settle between the decoys in the core of the selected nesting area, reducing the number of nests occupied near the extremities. Signage or other protective measures can then be located with reasonable confidence about the ultimate nest locations (Dunlop 2018).

               Chapter 4
Recovery plan vision, objectives, and strategies

             Long-term vision

             The Australian Fairy Tern population has increased in size to such an extent that the species no longer qualifies for listing as threatened under any of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 listing criteria.

             Recovery plan objective

             By 2030, sustain a positive population trend (compared to 2020 baseline counts) in the number of mature individuals of the Australian Fairy Tern in both the eastern and western populations. This will be achieved by implementing the actions set out in this
             Recovery Plan that minimise threats while protecting the species' habitat throughout its range, adequately monitoring the species, generating new knowledge to guide recovery and increasing public awareness.

             Strategies to achieve objectives

               1     Manage and protect known Australian Fairy Tern breeding populations at the landscape scale.

               2     Develop and apply techniques to measure changes in population trend(s) in order to measure the efficacy of recovery actions.

               3     Reduce, or eliminate threats at breeding, non-breeding and foraging sites.

               4     Undertake research and monitoring to improve understanding of breeding, non-breeding and foraging attributes in order to better target management actions and habitat restoration.

               5     Engage community stakeholders in Australian Fairy Tern conservation.

               6     Coordinate, review and report on recovery progress.

     Chapter 5
     Actions to achieve the specific objectives

   Actions identified for the recovery of the Australian Fairy Tern are described below.
   It should be noted that some of the objectives are long-term and may not be