Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• There are 14 species of sea snake on the Great Barrier Reef and there are serious concerns about the status of some species.
• It is estimated about 100 000 sea snakes are taken each year during trawling activities in the Queensland east coast trawl fishery. Although the trawl fishery continues to cause significant incidental catch and mortality on sea snakes, some bycatch reduction devices show potential for excluding a high proportion of snakes from trawl nets.
  

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Number of seasnake species on Great Barrier Reef 
• Number of seasnakes caught in trawling
• Reducing the impact of Queensland's trawl fisheries on protected sea snakes
• Reducing the impact of Queensland's trawl fisheries on protected sea snakes II 
• Sea snakes
• Impact of Bycatch Reduction Devices in the Queensland trawl fishery 
• Molecular ecology, evolution & conservation hydrophiine sea-snakes
• Status of sea snakes in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area 
• Vulnerability of marine reptiles in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

Existing policies and management actions

• Protected Species in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
  
• Policy on managing activities that include the direct take of a Protected Species from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  
• Fisheries: legislative management arrangements
• Fisheries: other management tools
• Fisheries: information systems 
• Implementation of WTO conditions and recommendations from the latest EPBC assessment: progress by fishery
• East coast fin fish fishery independent review
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 
• Queensland Fisheries monitoring
  
• Queensland Management of Commercial Fisheries
  
• Queensland Management of Recreational Fisheries 
• Australian Government policy on climate change 
• Queensland Government climate change policies and strategies 
• Climate Change Action Plan 2007-2012

Future management requirements

• Biodiversity strategy

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring