36Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

36 Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

Results from the NAIWB Surveillance Program are used to inform policy development and planning by Australian government and state/territory government agencies and contribute to Australia’s National Animal Health Information System (NAHIS). The data also informs Australia’s international reporting; and summary data are provided to industry at regular intervals through each sampling year.

Threat prioritisation

Each of the threats outlined above has been assessed to determine the risk posed to seabird populations (Table 3) using a risk matrix (Table 2). This identifies the threats that are likely to have greater impacts on seabird populations and therefore actions to mitigate these threats can be prioritised accordingly. The risk matrix considers the likelihood of an incident occurring and the consequences of that incident. Threats may act differently on different species and populations at different times of year, but the precautionary principle dictates that the threat category is determined by the group at highest risk. Population-wide threats are generally considered to present a higher risk.

The risk matrix uses a qualitative assessment drawing on peer reviewed literature and expert opinion. In some cases, the consequences of the threat are unknown. In these cases, the precautionary principle has been applied. Levels of risk and the associated priority for action are defined as follows:

 Very High – immediate mitigation action required

 High – mitigation action and an adaptive management plan required, the precautionary principle should be applied

 Moderate – obtain additional information and develop mitigation action if required

 Low – monitor the threat occurrence and reassess threat level if likelihood or consequences change

Table 2 Risk prioritisation

Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds 37

Categories for likelihood are defined as follows:

 Almost certain – expected to occur every year

 Likely – expected to occur at least once every five years

 Possible – might occur at some time

 Unlikely – such events are known to have occurred on a worldwide basis but only a few times

 Rare or Unknown – may occur only in exceptional circumstances; OR it is currently unknown how often the incident will occur

Categories for consequences are defined as follows:

 Not significant – no long-term effect on individuals or populations

 Minor – individuals are adversely affected but no effect at population level

 Moderate – population recovery stalls or reduces