Summary

Australian Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis nereis)

Family: Laridae

Current status of taxon:

• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth): Vulnerable
• Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 (Tas): Vulnerable
• Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic): Critically Endangered
• National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (SA): Endangered
• Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (WA): Vulnerable

Distribution and habitat:

Australian Fairy Terns occur along the southern Australian coast from south of the Dampier archipelago Western Australia east to Botany Bay, New South Wales including Tasmania. The Great Australian Bight forms a gap in distribution between western and eastern subpopulations (Higgins and Davies 1996), and there are now substantial gaps amongst breeding colonies in eastern Australia, especially around the Victorian

coastline (Garnett et al. 2011). Australian Fairy Terns use a variety of habitats including offshore, estuarine, lacustrine (lake) islands, wetlands, beaches and sand spits

(TSSC 2011).

Recovery plan vision, objective, and strategies:

Long-term vision

The Australian Fairy Tern population has increased in size to such an extent that the species no longer qualifies for listing as threatened under any of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 listing criteria.

Recovery plan objective:

By 2030, sustain a positive population trend (compared to 2020 baseline counts) in the number of mature individuals of the Australian Fairy Tern in both the eastern and western populations. This will be achieved by implementing the actions set out in this

Recovery Plan that minimise threats while protecting the species’ habitat throughout its range, adequately monitoring the species, generating new knowledge to guide recovery and increasing public awareness.