Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01763:reg:7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01763
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 7
Character Range: 29060–30066

7                  Habitats that are critical to the survival of the species
All of these species rely on the inshore coastal areas, including the major rivers and estuarine regions of northern Australia, as described in Section 2.2 and 2.3 and displayed in Figure 1. Largetooth sawfish live in freshwater rivers and upper estuarine areas as juveniles, before moving into estuarine and marine areas as adults. The other four species spend much of their lives in estuarine and inshore areas. Adults of all five species are thought to also utilise deepwater habitats, though this is unconfirmed for dwarf sawfish and speartooth sharks. Given the declines in these species' populations and the lack of detailed information on their distribution, all areas where aggregations of individuals have been recorded displaying biologically important behaviour such as breeding, foraging, resting or migrating, are considered critical to the survival of the species unless population survey data suggests otherwise.