2013 Annual Report on the Commercial Harvest of Kangaroos
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2013 Annual Report on the Commercial Harvest of Kangaroos in Western Australia This report is provided to the Australian Government as requirement of the Management Plan for the Commercial Harvest of Kangaroos in Western Australia 20013–2014 under Aim 6, Action 17, Performance Indicator 30. March 2013 CONTENTS 1. HARVEST STATISTICS .................................................................................................... 1 2. INDUSTRY COMPLIANCE ................................................................................................ 2 3. UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES ......................................................................................... 3 4. RESEARCH ACTIVITY ...................................................................................................... 12 5. ASSESSMENT OF PLAN ACTIONS AGAINST PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ............. 13 2013 Harvest Report for Western Australia 1 1. HARVEST STATISTICS Table 1.1. Commercial harvest figures for red kangaroos for the 2013 calendar year. Population Number Sex ratio Average male Average female Monitoring Zone harvested (% male) carcass weight carcass weight (kg) (kg) Central 10,434 60.7 23.8 15.0 Northern 10,308 65.7 24.8 16.6 South East 16,120 58.0 24.3 15.3 South West 0 - - - Totals (WA) 36,862 60.9 24.3 15.5 State quota 77,200 Proportion state 47.7% quota harvested Table 1.2. Commercial harvest figures for western grey kangaroos for the 2013 calendar year. Population Number Sex ratio Average male Average female Monitoring Zone harvested (% male) carcass weight carcass weight (kg) (kg) Central 5,070 60.3 24.8 17.8 Northern 0 - - - South East 14,660 61.1 25.6 15.6 South West 61,357 60.4 29.4 17.5 Totals (WA) 81,087 60.5 28.4 17.2 State quota 106,000 Proportion state 76.5% quota harvested 2013 Harvest Report for Western Australia 2 2. INDUSTRY COMPLIANCE Table 2.1. Summary of compliance monitoring of the commercial kangaroo industry in Western Australia for the 2013 calendar year. Category Commercial Activity Regulation 6: Regulation 7: Regulation 8: Regulation 10: Licence to Take Licence to Active Chiller Licence to Deal in Kangaroos for Process Units* Skins Sale Valid licences 427 18 130 7 Inspections 34 16 46 2 Alleged offences 16 5 7 0 • Possession of • Possession of • Failing to three untagged three untagged display carcasses carcasses registered • Failing to • Failing to number on Type of alleged submit monthly display licence chiller offence return • Failing to have • Chiller not at • Failing to records onsite registered comply with • Displaying location licence expired licence conditions Letters of warning 0 0 0 0 Caution notices 15 2 5 Prosecutions 0 0 0 0 initiated Convictions 1# 1# 0 0 Dismissals 0 0 0 0 Prosecutions 0 0 0 0 pending * Active chiller units are those chillers identified on shooter returns where there is at least one shooting day of effort assigned to that chiller during the year. # Offences occurred in 2012 and were prosecuted in 2013. During 2013, a compliance operation was run in the department’s Swan Region targeting kangaroo processors and registered chillers. 2013 Harvest Report for Western Australia 3 3. UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES 3.1 Rainfall and Drought The following text is an extract from the annual climate summary for Western Australia published by the Bureau of Meteorology (product code IDCKGC11R0) and available from http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/wa/summary.shtml (accessed 5 March 2014): “Western Australia in 2013: Warmest year on record • Maximum temperature: highest on record for WA; fourth highest for southwest WA • Minimum temperature: second highest on record for WA and southwest WA • Rainfall: above average for WA; near average for southwest WA Introduction Averaged across the State as a whole, 2013 was WA's warmest year since comparable records commenced in 1910. Maximum temperatures were very much above average across most of the State, with a few sites in southern parts of WA recording their warmest year on record. WA also recorded its second highest annual mean minimum temperature on record. Minimum temperatures were similarly very much above average across most of WA, with a number of sites, particularly in southern WA, recording their warmest year on record in terms of overnight temperatures. Rainfall in WA during 2013 was above average for the State as a whole, with above average rainfall reported across large parts of northern WA, and to a lesser extent southeast WA, with record annual rainfall reported at a few sites in the Kimberley, Pilbara, and Southeast Coastal. Overall near average rainfall was reported in southwest WA in 2013. Rainfall Areas of very much above average rainfall were reported in the west Kimberley, east Pilbara, and Northern Interior in 2013, largely as a result of the passage of tropical cyclone Rusty through the region in late February and tropical cyclone Christine towards the end of December, along with significant Northwest Cloudband events in May and June bringing unseasonal heavy rainfall. As a result, Pardoo Station in the Pilbara recorded its highest annual rainfall in a 98 year recording history. Port Hedland Airport, and Cape Leveque in the Kimberley, also reported their wettest year on record. The southern Goldfields and Southeast Coastal also reported very much above average rainfall, mainly as a result of frequent rain events in March, as well as significant events in May and September. Erinair, west of Esperance, recorded its wettest year in its 44 years of record. In contrast, the west Gascoyne and parts of the Central West recorded below to very much below average rainfall in 2013, mainly as a result of a lack of winter rainfall in the region. 2013 Harvest Report for Western Australia 4 Averaged across WA as a whole, rainfall during 2013 was above average. Wet months were observed in May and June, as significant Northwest Cloudband events occurred across the northern half of the State, September, with significant rainfall across the southern half of WA, November, with early wet season rainfall in the Kimberley and the passage of tropical cyclone Alessia near the north Kimberley coast, and December, with heavy rainfall in parts of the Kimberley due to a nearby weak tropical low, then the west Kimberley and east Pilbara with the passage of tropical cyclone Christine. Only August saw below average rainfall for the State as a whole, with little, if any, rainfall reported outside the Southwest Land Division (SWLD). The Lower Southwest (southwest of a line from Jurien Bay to Bremer Bay) saw near average rainfall in 2013, as a result of above average rainfall in March, May, and August, and the fourth wettest September on record, the wettest month of 2013 for the Lower Southwest, combined with below average rainfall in April, and the second driest June on record. The SWLD similarly recorded a near average year largely due to above average rainfall in autumn and spring in combination with the ninth driest winter since comparable records commenced in 1900. Significant rainfall events during the year were as follows: • Tropical cyclone Peta moved over the central Pilbara coast as a category one system on 23 January and brought some localised heavy falls, the highest daily total being 261.6 mm at Hooley on 24 January, which was the highest daily total in 30 years of recording at the site. Flooding impacts were generally localised and mostly minor. • Severe tropical cyclone Rusty crossed the coast east of Port Hedland on 27 February and brought heavy rainfall to the east Pilbara and west Kimberley in the last week of February. The highest daily fall reported during the event was 263.4 mm at Bamboo Creek in the east Pilbara on the 28th, although the rain gauge overflowed so the actual total was likely higher than this. It was the highest daily rainfall total reported in WA in 2013. Major flooding of the De Grey river was reported as a result of the slow moving severe tropical cyclone. Ex-tropical cyclone Rusty moved through central parts of the State in early March and brought heavy rainfall to the Southern Interior and Goldfields, and several sites in these districts observed their wettest autumn day on record on the 1st and 2nd, whilst Glen-Ayle (Southern Interior) recorded a daily total of 177.5 mm in the 24 hours to 9am on the 1st, its wettest day in 64 years of record. • Numerous unseasonal rainfall events occurred across northern WA in May 2013. Rain and thunderstorms were common across the Kimberley from the 12th to 24th with some heavy falls reported. Very heavy rainfall in excess of 150 mm was reported on the northern Dampier Penninsula on the 19th and 20th as Cygnet Bay observed 155.4 mm in the 24 hours to 9am on the 21st, its wettest May day in 50 years of record, and Lombadina Airstrip reported 182.5 mm, the highest daily rainfall total in WA for autumn 2013. Cape Leveque recorded 157.7 mm on the 21st, which contributed significantly to its autumn total rainfall of 409.9 mm, the highest autumn 2013 total rainfall in WA. • A weak tropical low drifting close to the west Kimberley coast on 5 and 6 June brought thunderstorms and the re-intensification of a cloudband over northern WA with extremely heavy falls reported in the west Kimberley as a result, and a number of sites registered their highest daily rainfall on record for winter in the 24 hours to 9am on the 6th or 7th. West Roebuck, near Broome, recorded 202.0 mm in the 24 2013 Harvest Report for Western Australia 5 hours to 9am on the 6th, which was the highest daily total recorded during the event. Broome Airport recorded 146.4 mm on the 6th exceeding the previous winter daily record at the airport of 127.0 mm on 24 June 1968, and also exceeding the highest winter daily rainfall at the Broome Post Office of 143.0 mm on 15 June 1901, thus becoming the wettest winter day in the town since recording began in 1889.