Cetaceans require special consideration in view of the requirements for their management under Division 3 of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Operational Policy for Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park provides a comprehensive review of cetaceans in the Great Barrier Reef.

Whales and Dolphins

• Knowledge
• Conservation Status
• Human related threats
• Actions

Knowledge

• Refer p.159 of The Outstanding Universal Value of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (Lucas et al. 1997), which says that the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) is a significant refuge for cetacean biodiversity in the tropical Indo-Pacific as coastal species such as the Australian snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) and the Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphin (Sousa chinensis) are unlikely to survive outside Australia.
• Refer p. 67 and 103, State of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area 1998 (Wachenfeld 1998).
• As per the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s (GBRMPA’s) Operational Policy on Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, priority species for management are:
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
  • Australian snubfin (Orcaella heinsohni)
  • Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin (Sousa chinensis)
  • Dwarf minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), considered a separate species for the purposes of management.
• The GBRMPA staff recently summarised information on marine mammal watching on the Great Barrier Reef (Stokes et al. 2002).
• ‘The most recent genetic studies indicate that coastal bottlenose dolphins from southeastern Australia are Tursiops aduncus (Moller & Beheregaray 2001), like those of Western Australia (Connors et al. 2000). There are no genetically confirmed records of T. truncatus from Australia.’ (Perrin et al. 2002).
• Reports are available on the sustainable management of the swimming with dwarf minke whale industry on the Great Barrier Reef.
  • Refer Birtles et al. (2002), and Arnold & Birtles (1999)

Conservation status

• The Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin are listed as ‘rare’ and the humpback whale as ‘vulnerable’ under the Queensland under the Queensland 1994 (Table 3).
• A 1996 Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans summarises information then available on the biology and status of all species (Bannister et al. 1996).
• Hale (1997) and Corkeron et al. (1997) summarise existing data on the distribution, status and conservation of inshore dolphins in Australia.
• Human Related Threats
• Human activities likely to adversely impact on cetaceans are listed in the supporting document to the GBRMPA’s Operational Policy on Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Actions

• The GBRMPA’s Operational Policy on Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was reviewed and published in April 2007.
• Implementation of the Policy is proceeding, especially in regard to whale watching and swimming-with-whale requirements.
• Liaison continues with researchers studying dwarf minke whales and inshore dolphins.
• Best Environmental Practices for whale watching have been prepared and publicised.
• Both the Cairns Area and the Whitsundays Plans of Management provide for the protection of whales by establishing minimum approach distances to whales and regulating the amount of whalewatching and swimming-with-whales activities occurring in the planning areas.
• A tri-agency (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, GBRMPA) approach is enabling close examination of cetacean carcasses to establish the causes of mortality and obtain further information.
• The GBRMPA website enables the general public to subscribe to an Email Listserver that posts notices about each stranding soon after they are investigated.
• QPWS publish annual reports summarising live-strandings and carcasses of cetaceans.
• SEAMAP (Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations) seeks data on marine mammals, birds, and turtles for the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). The datasets will be compiled for a publicly available web-based system that will allow analysis of the database. To learn more about the initiative, visit their website: http://obismap.env.duke.edu/
• In 2003 the Department of the Environment and Heritage (formerly Environment Australia) commissioned the preparation of a national recovery plan for Humpback whales, and a national review of the conservation status of smaller whales and dolphins.
• The GBRMPA is represented on the National Whale Recovery Group coordinated by the Department of the Environment and Heritage (formerly Environment Australia).

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