Criteria to measure performance of the pCriteria to measure performance of the plan against the objectives

Criteria to measure performance of the plan against the objectives

It is not anticipated that these objectives will be achieved within the life of the plan for both migratory populations of Australian humpback whales. However, the following criteria can be used to measure the ongoing performance of this plan against the objectives:

1. secure populations of humpback whales in Australian waters were recorded, or populations continued to recover at, or close to, the optimum biological rate (understood to be approximately 8-10% per annum at the commencement of this plan);
2. populations of humpback whales in Australian waters were known to have a distribution similar to the pre‑exploitation distribution, or the range of humpback whale populations continued to expand towards pre-exploitation distributions; and
3. domestic and international protection regimes that support the recovery of the species were maintained and where possible improved.