DRAFT WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PLAN FOR SEABIRDS 1 The Species Profile and Threats Database pages linked to this recovery plan is obtainable from: http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2019. <insert name of report> is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This report should be attributed as ‘Draft Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds, Commonwealth of Australia 2019’. The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright, [name of third party] ’. 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Images credits Cover page: Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) over North Keeling Island © Copyright Department of the Environment and Energy 2 Contents Summary .............................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7 Seabirds of Australia ............................................................................................................. 8 Legal framework ................................................................................................................. 13 Species covered under the wildlife conservation plan ......................................................... 17 Threats ............................................................................................................................... 19 Habitat Loss .................................................................................................................... 19 Habitat Modification ......................................................................................................... 20 Climate variability and change ......................................................................................... 20 Geological processes ...................................................................................................... 22 Invasive species .............................................................................................................. 23 Problem native wildlife ..................................................................................................... 24 Fisheries interactions and by-catch ................................................................................. 24 Prey depletion ................................................................................................................. 26 Resource extraction ......................................................................................................... 26 Renewable energy........................................................................................................... 27 Anthropogenic disturbance .............................................................................................. 27 Hunting ............................................................................................................................ 28 Transport ......................................................................................................................... 28 Drones............................................................................................................................. 29 Pollution .......................................................................................................................... 29 Aquaculture ..................................................................................................................... 34 Disease ........................................................................................................................... 34 Threat prioritisation .......................................................................................................... 35 Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 38 Actions to achieve the Specific Objectives .......................................................................... 38 Affected Interests ................................................................................................................ 42 Evaluating the Performance of the Plan .............................................................................. 44 Major benefits to other Migratory Species, Marine Species, Species oF Cetacean or Conservation Dependent Species ....................................................................................... 45 Species Profiles .................................................................................................................. 48 Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) ................................................................... 48 White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) ..................................................................... 49 Matsudaira’s Storm-petrel (Hydrobates matsudairae) ...................................................... 50 Swinhoe’s Storm-petrel (Hydrobates monorhis) ............................................................... 51 3 Wilson’s Storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) .................................................................. 52 Grey-backed Storm-petrel (Garrodia nereis) .................................................................... 53 White-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina) ............................................................. 54 Black-bellied Storm-petrel (Fregetta tropica).................................................................... 56 Cape Petrel (Daption capense)........................................................................................ 57 Broad-billed Prion (Pachyptila vittata) .............................................................................. 58 Salvin’s Prion (Pachyptila salvini) .................................................................................... 60 Antarctic Prion (Pachyptila desolata) ............................................................................... 61 Slender-billed Prion (Pachyptila belcheri) ........................................................................ 62 Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur) .......................................................................................... 63 Fulmar Prion (Pachyptila crassirostris) ............................................................................ 64 Bulwer’s Petrel (Bulweria bulwerii) ................................................................................... 65 Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica)................................................................... 67 Buller’s Shearwater (Ardenna bulleri) .............................................................................. 69 Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) ................................................................ 70 Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) ................................................................................. 73 Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) ................................................................ 75 Streaked Shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas) ............................................................... 77 Fluttering Shearwater (Puffinus gavia) ............................................................................. 78 Hutton’s Shearwater (Puffinus huttoni) ............................................................................ 79 Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) ............................................................................... 81 Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata) ............................................................................ 83 Kerguelen Petrel (Lugensa brevirostris) ........................................................................... 85 White-headed Petrel (Pterodroma lessonii) ..................................................................... 86 Great-winged Petrel (Pterodroma macroptera) ................................................................ 87 Providence Petrel (Pterodroma solandri) ......................................................................... 89 Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) ......................................................................... 91 White-necked Petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis) ................................................................... 92 Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) ................................................................. 94 Common Diving-petrel (Pelecanoides urinatrix) ............................................................... 96 South Georgian Diving-petrel (Pelecanoides georgicus) .................................................. 97 King Penguin (Aptenodytes