Media release
29 January 2010
Australian Minister for the Environment,
Peter Garrett, and New Zealand Minister
for Research Science and Technology, Wayne
Mapp, launched the first Antarctic Whale
Research Expedition as part of the Southern
Ocean Research Partnership in Wellington
today.
“This expedition – the
largest of its kind in the world - demonstrates
the Government's position that non-lethal
whale research can provide all the information
needed to understand and conserve whales,”
Mr Garrett said.
“A program of this scale
not been seen before. It marries rigorous
science and serious environmental inquiry,
with an emphasis on collaboration, and respect
for the oceans and the creatures that make
their home in the vast waters of our planet,”
Mr Garrett said.
The inaugural Antarctic
Whale Expedition will undertake six weeks
of research aboard the New Zealand vessel
RV Tangaroa in the Antarctic waters to the
south of Australia and New Zealand. The
expedition will use state-of-the-art, non-lethal
research techniques such as biopsy sampling,
satellite tracking and acoustic and hydrographic
surveys.
The research, jointly
undertaken by Australia, New Zealand and
French scientists aboard the RV Tangaroa,
will improve the understanding of the population
structure, abundance, trends, distribution,
and ecological role of whales in the Southern
Ocean.
“The Southern Ocean
Research Partnership is the first truly
international, multidisciplinary research
collaboration with a focus on improving
the conservation of whales,” Mr Garrett
said.
“The Partnership is
a key International Whaling Commission (IWC)
non-lethal research initiative and this
voyage will be its most significant activity
yet.
“Australia and New Zealand
have assembled scientists who are international
leaders in their fields to conduct this
work. Dr Nick Gales will lead the scientific
aspects of the work with his colleagues
from Australia, New Zealand and France.
“Their research projects
have been deliberately developed to address
the most pressing conservation science issues
for whales in this region, for example,
informing our understanding of why some
species, such as Antarctic blue whales,
remain such a rare animal in the Southern
Ocean. They will also address key issues
associated with climate change, such as
how whales utilise their vulnerable sea-ice
habitats.
“The preliminary results
of the expedition will be presented at the
IWC annual meeting in Morocco in June 2010,”
Mr Garrett said.
+ More
Legislative changes
for rec fishing of makos
Media release - 25 January
2010 - Environment Minister, Peter Garrett,
said today the Government would move to
introduce legislative amendments to ensure
that international changes to the status
of mako sharks would not affect recreational
fishing activities in Australia.
Mr Garrett said it was
a requirement of the national environment
law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation (EPBC) Act, enacted by the
previous government, that species listed
internationally under the Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS) were automatically
included on Australia’s national list of
migratory species.
However, with a lack
of evidence suggesting that Australian populations
of these shark species face the same threats
as other parts of the world, or a demonstrable
conservation benefit, the Government has
decided to act.
“Australia takes its
international obligations seriously, however
we also believe that our own legislation
should provide the flexibility to properly
take into account our particular domestic
circumstances.
“Unfortunately the national
environment law, as written by the previous
government, does not allow the Government
that flexibility.
“That’s why the Government
will ensure that recreational fishers, including
charter boat operations, are not unfairly
impacted by this international decision,
which was driven primarily by concern about
northern hemisphere populations of these
sharks.
“Importantly, the inflexibility
of the EPBC Act when it comes to the listing
of species under the international convention
was identified as an issue needing correction
by the Government’s recently completed independent
review of the legislation.
“While the Government
will be responding in full to the recommendations
of that review, because the new listing
will impact disproportionately on recreational
fishers for no demonstrable conservation
benefit, we think it is important that we
act separately on this matter to minimise
the impacts on recreational fishers.
“A number of Government
MPs, including Member for Corangamite Darren
Cheeseman and the Member for Braddon, Sid
Sidebottom, have been promoting the need
for a practical solution to this issue within
Government, and I’m pleased to say we will
deliver that.”
Mr Garrett said while a the listing of the
three shark species would still have to
take effect on 29 January 2010 the Government
will act as a priority, upon the resumption
of the Parliament.
In the interim the Government
has already announced that catch and release
fishing of these species is not expected
to have a significant impact on populations
and therefore is unlikely to be subject
to enforcement action.
Minister Garrett
has also directed his department to work
with fishery managers to improve data on
mako and porbeagle sharks in Australian
waters, to provide a more comprehensive
information base on these shark species
for the future.
