New Queensland Laws Remove Protections for Whales on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts

On Friday the Queensland State Government released legislation in the Nature Conservation (Protected Areas Management) Regulations (No 61 and 63 of 2013) which removes protections for whales in State waters off the Sunshine and Gold coasts. The amendments lift the ban on commercial whale watching within 5.5 km of shore.

Previous Legislation

Under previous legislation, whale watching tours were prohibited from stopping in State waters, and had to continue at least 5.5 Kilometres (3 nautical miles) to Commonwealth waters to view the animals.

Conservation

Hervey Bay whale-watch pioneer Brian Perry has attacked the new legislation saying widening the “humpback highway” could harm whales.  Mr Perry, who founded the first whale-watching boat tours in Hervey Bay almost 30 years ago, said it could lead to whales being "harassed" by more boats as they made the journey up the Queensland coast to breed.

"Our biggest concern is the welfare of the whales. The three nautical mile restriction gives them a bit of a free corridor, especially on their northward migration, where they aren't going to be harassed by boats."

According to the Australia Whale Conservation Society, humpback whales migrate annually along the east and west coasts of Australia which brings most of the individuals and pods relatively close to shore. Sustained and growing public interest in whales and the increasing number of recreational (private) vessels and commercial whale watching boats in coastal waters have the combined potential to impact negatively on individual whales and whale populations. This may include:

• Disruption of behaviour such as migrating, nursing, mating, and feeding.

• Displacement - being forced offshore/inshore to escape harassment.

• Noise - interference with communication and social behaviour.

• Stress - especially in the case of vulnerable individuals such as pregnant females.

• Separation - mothers from calves.

• Boat-strike injury from hulls and propellers.

• Increased direct mortality - larger vessels, vessels at high speed.

• Reduced breeding success.

Mr Perry said opening up state waters would lead to more whales being "distressed". "The well-being of the whales is paramount," he said.
"The number of baby whales being found washed up dead on beaches has gone through the roof and it has to be due to increased interaction with boats."

Tourism

The news may appeal to some operators such as Gold Coast whale-watching operator Anthony Ardern, of Whales in Paradise, who said his boats had been forced to bypass whales in state waters, leaving tourists disappointed.  While commercial operators will now be free to avoid disappointing tourists and, in the word of Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell "not have to explain to the tourists why they can't stop" the changes have the potential to negatively impact whales.

In addition to the conservation and protection issues, some Hervey Bay tourism operators say the changes will shatter the local industry. Because Hervey Bay is a Marine Park area, operators will still need a permit. Nevertheless, according to Blue Dolphin Tours spokesman Peter Lynch the removal of restrictions will encourage operators to leave the industry on the Fraser Coast, because permits are expensive.

"We all have our commercial activity agreement - some are worth [more] than $100,000 for permit purchases in the past. So there's over $1.8 million taken off the assets value of these local Hervey Bay operators by this act of the Government."

More information on the Australian Whale Conservation Society can be found here.

Information about the new Act gained from TimeBase LawOne Services.

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