2016-2019 National Report Analysis. Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Dugong and their Habitats throughout their Range

This report summarises the information provided in the most recent National Reports submitted to the Dugong MOU Secretariat as the foundation for a review of the National Report format to ensure it provides a practical format for reporting the implementation of the Dugong MOU including any measures of conservation and management effectiveness

World Heritage and the challenge of climate change: a reform agenda

The General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention adopted a policy and strategy on climate change in 2007. Many of its actions remain to be delivered. Climate change has highlighted the limits of a system under stress to respond to an immense challenge. The General Assembly is again considering the issue, and a second World Heritage climate change policy is being developed to provide high-level guidance on response measures. The draft second policy emphasises the role of individual States Parties in addressing climate impacts on their World Heritage sites but says less about the responsibilities of the World Heritage Committee, World Heritage Centre or Advisory Bodies to the Convention in meeting the goals of climate action and achieving an equitable, international and shared response. Nor does it tackle issues related to Outstanding Universal Value, the core of any response to climate change. We develop a conceptual framework for substantive reform and propose actions to enable the World Heritage system to effectively respond to climate change and support the resolution of longstanding, systemic issues. Meaningful response to climate change needs to involve strategic as well as operational elements in a staged response with measurable outcomes and outputs

Historical marine population estimates: triggers or targets for conservation? The dugong case study

Recent studies have estimated the historical abundance of large marine vertebrates to determine potential targets for conservation. We evaluated this approach using 1990s aerial survey estimates of dugong abundance and an estimate of the decline in dugong numbers since the 1960s based on changes in the catch per unit effort of dugong bycatch in a government shark control program on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. This analysis indicated that the catch rate of dugongs caught in shark nets, at six locations between latitudes 16.5° S and 28° S, declined at an average of 8.7% per year between 1962 and 1999. This represents a decline to 3.1% of initial catch rates over the sampling period. If the changes in the populations sampled by the shark nets and aerial surveys were equivalent, this result suggests that the region supported 72 000 dugongs in the early 1960s compared with an estimated 4220 dugongs in the mid-1990s. The seagrass habitat in the region is currently insufficient to support 72 000 dugongs, suggesting that our hindcast estimate may be an unrealistic target for recovery. Nonetheless, the evidence of serious dugong decline from the shark-net data and other sources has triggered significant conservation initiatives. This case study indicates that comparisons between historical and contemporary estimates of the abundance of large marine vertebrates can be powerful qualitative triggers for conservation action, but that quantitative targets for recovery require systematic testing of the assumptions underlying hindcast estimates, scientific evaluation of the current carrying capacity of the ecosystem for the target species, and consultation with a broad range of stakeholders. For some species, it may be more productive to set anthropogenic mortality targets that are designed to enable the population to recover to its optimum sustainable population than to set recovery targets per se

Dugong distribution and abundance on the urban coast of Queensland: a basis for management. Final Report to Marine and Tropical Research Facility Interim Projects 2005-6

[Excerpt] The transitional funding from MTSRF plus supplementary funding from CRC Reef and CRC Torres Strait enabled the first survey of the entire urban coast of Queensland for dugongs to be carried out in November 2005. In addition, a reference block in Torres Strait was surveyed to provide a context for the survey of the urban coast. The results of the 2005 surveys are being presented to Traditional Owners and stakeholders at a series of workshops. The results of the 2005 survey have been analyzed in the context of results of previous surveys of various parts of this coast since the mid 1980s using comparable techniques. The results of the 20 year time series of surveys suggest that dugong numbers are now stable at the scale of the entire urban coast of Queensland although populations fluctuate at the level of individual survey blocks (usually bays), probably largely due to natural changes in seagrass habitats. The results of the surveys indicate that it will be important to: (1) develop cross-jurisdictional objectives for the management of dugongs at the scale of the entire region, and (2) co-ordinate management at both culturally and ecologically relevant scales

Distribution and Abundance of the Dugong in Gulf of Carpentaria Waters: a basis for cross-jurisdictional conservation planning and management

[Extract] This survey provides the first synopsis of the distribution and abundance of the dugong in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The results of previous surveys of parts of this region in both Queensland and the Northern Territory have been difficult to interpret because of the potentially confounding influences of unpredictable dugong movements between areas within the region

Domestic ivory trade: the supply chain for raw ivory in Thailand is driven by the financial needs of elephant owners and market factors

The ivory trade is of global interest due to its impacts on elephant conservation. Thailand permits the domestic trade of ivory from domesticated elephants. Knowledge of the supply chain is important for managing this market in order to achieve sustainable benefits for both wildlife conservation and human livelihoods. We interviewed elephant owners and ivory manufacturers to conduct an analysis of the Thai ivory supply chain. Five key actor groups operate in this supply chain: elephant owners, intermediaries, manufacturers, retailers, and ivory consumers. Factors influencing the supply of raw ivory vary with harvesting, use, and sale destination but the financial needs of elephant owners and market factors are particularly influential. Elephant owner decisions also depend on elephant management, sentimental values, ivory beliefs, tusk forms, and legal awareness. These findings have the potential to inform the design of monitoring the Thai ivory market

Stakeholder engagement in the governance of marine migratory species: barriers and building blocks

Meaningful stakeholder engagement is important to collaborative decision-making and to effective polycentric governance, particularly when managing cross-scale environmental issues like those involving marine migratory species. In this paper, we explore the barriers to, and opportunities for, stakeholder involvement in the governance of threats to marine migratory species in eastern Australia, using semi-structured qualitative interviews and a focus group, as an example of the generic problem of managing migratory species within a large range state with multiple jurisdictions. Respondents identified several barriers to, and opportunities for, improved stakeholder involvement in the governance of marine migratory species, corresponding to 4 main themes: decision-making processes, information sharing, institutional structures, and participation processes. Respondents indicated that the governance system protecting marine turtles, dugongs, humpback whales, and non-threatened migratory shorebirds in eastern Australia would benefit from the introduction of new information pathways, reformed institutional structures (including environmental legislation), and improved participatory pathways for non-government stakeholders. Such changes could help harmonise the process of managing these species, leading to more effective conservation management throughout their range

Marine Mammal Interactions With Fisheries: Review of Research and Management Trends Across Commercial and Small-Scale Fisheries

Marine mammal interactions with fisheries, such as bycatch and depredation, are a common occurrence across commercial and small-scale fisheries. We conducted a systematic review to assess the management responses to marine mammal interactions with fisheries. We analyzed literature between 1995 and 2021 to measure research trends in studies on direct and indirect interactions for: (i) high and low to middle-income countries, (ii) fishery operations (commercial and small-scale), and (iii) taxonomic groups. Management responses were categorized using the framework described previously in peer-reviewed studies. Marine mammal bycatch remains a major conservation concern, followed by marine mammal depredation of fishing gear. A high proportion of studies concentrated on commercial fisheries in high-income countries, with an increase in small-scale fisheries in low to middle-income countries between 1999 and 2020. The insufficient understanding of the social dimensions of interactions and the inevitable uncertainties concerning animal and human behaviors are major challenges to effective management. Despite the key role of human behavior and socioeconomics, we found only eight articles that incorporate human dimensions in the management context. Integrating social dimensions of marine mammal interactions with fisheries could help in setting pragmatic conservation priorities based on enhanced understanding of critical knowledge gaps. An area-specific adaptive management framework could be an effective tool in reducing the risk to marine mammals from fisheries by coupling technical solutions with socio-economic and political interventions. We conclude that despite the vast body of literature on this subject, a “silver bullet” management solution to marine mammal interactions with fisheries does not yet exist

Urgent need for improved protection of the Coral Sea

[Extract] Australia's leading tropical marine scientists strongly support the proposal to transform the Coral Sea into the world’s largest no-take area, to protect its immense environmental and heritage values from the escalating threats of overfishing and climate change

Quick fix GPS technology highlights risk to dugongs moving between protected areas

Incidental capture in fishing gear is the most serious threat to the survival of many species of marine mammals. Fisheries closures developed to protect marine mammals have tended to concentrate on areas of high marine mammal density. Movement corridors have generally been less protected because they are often unknown and difficult to detect. Seagrass meadows in Moreton and Hervey Bays in south-eastern Queensland support significant populations of dugongs Dugong dugon. Pedigree analysis based on genetic and ancillary biological data indicates that there is substantial movement of dugongs between these bays, which are separated by open surf coasts where dugongs are occasionally caught in inshore shark nets set for the protection of bathers. This bycatch suggests that the dugong movement corridor between Moreton and Hervey Bays is close to the coast, a hypothesis not confirmed by nearly 30 yr of dugong satellite tracking using platform transmitter terminal (PTT) technology. Twenty-nine dugongs were captured in seagrass habitats on the eastern banks of Moreton Bay in 2012-2014 and were fitted with Quick Fix GPS and acoustic transmitters. One animal was captured and tracked twice. Four dugongs were tracked moving from Moreton Bay to Hervey Bay covering distances of 278-338 km over 5-9 d; 1 dugong made the return journey. Three of the 4 animals travelled along and very close to the coast; the exact track of the fourth animal is uncertain. These results suggest that dugongs would benefit from netting closures that extend beyond seagrass meadows