Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930:reg:2:p22
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00930
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 22/48)
Character Range: 121624–124626

fish farm in Tasmania (Kemper et al. 2008). More recent evaluation of cetacean incidental entanglements and bycatch throughout Australian waters reported 28 entanglements between 1887 to 2016, and identified that the highest risk to southern right whales was from trap and net gear (Tulloch et al. 2020).
Passive fishing gear, such as mesh nets and conventional drumlines, are often deployed adjacent to populated beaches as a public safety measure for bather protection to reduce shark interactions with beach-goers (McPhee et al. 2021). This is particularly prominent in Queensland and New South Wales, and results in the capture of target and non-target species, including whales such as humpback whales (Industries 2022). There is the potential risk of entanglement in bather protection shark mesh nets to southern right whales due to their coastal dependence and distribution, and in NSW these nets remain in place where southern right whales have been recorded. There has also been a recognised need for non-lethal methods, including new technologies, due in part to the consequence of bycatch in these systems. Recently, the new shark fishing device known as the Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time (SMART) drumline has been trialled in many coastal areas in NSW and WA waters, which could assist mitigation of southern right whale entanglements associated with bather protection programs (McPhee et al. 2021).
The impact of entanglement to southern right whales is likely to be greatest for the eastern population, given that any entanglement affecting mortality or fitness of even a low number of breeding females in that region may have a significant impact on recovery rates. The eastern population is distributed across a region of densely human populated cities and coastal areas and overlaps with State and Commonwealth commercial and recreational crab and lobster fisheries. In comparison, due to the higher population abundance of the western population, entanglement is unlikely to have population level impacts at current levels of entanglement rates. However, changes to the southern rock lobster trap fishery in SA, including opening the fishing season year round since 2017 (Linnane et al. 2017), have increased the number of gear and vessels in or near important calving grounds and migratory routes, and this may result in more right whale entanglements in the future (Tulloch et al. 2020).
Substantial progress towards addressing the threat of entanglement can occur when there is collaboration between the fishing industry, government, non-government organisations and research organisations, e.g. How et al. (2015). In WA, the Western Rock Lobster Council developed the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery Code of Practice for Reducing Whale Entanglements in association with government and non-government agencies to reduce interactions with whales. Similarly, a Code of Practice Southern Rocklobster Responsible fishing guidelines for operators in Victoria was developed