On National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate …

Public Communique – National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate, 4 August 2023

National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate Meeting 1

The National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate was formed in July 2023 and its first meeting was  held on 27 July 2023 in Hobart.

BACKGROUND 

The Tasmanian endemic Maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana) is listed as Endangered under both  Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and  Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The species is also a priority threatened species under the Australian  Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan (2022-2032).

Recent research and monitoring by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of  Tasmania, indicates that Macquarie Harbour retains the only viable population of the species, and that  this population is likely to have undergone significant decline in recent years. The Tasmanian and  Australian governments have been working collaboratively with key stakeholders to explore a suite of  conservation actions for the species, beginning with proactive and precautionary measures to address  known threats, while simultaneously planning a consultative and coordinated strategy to enable  measures which will stabilise the population and promote longer term recovery in the wild.

ROLE OF THE RECOVERY TEAM 

Given the complexity of the conservation management environment for the Maugean skate, the  formation of a Recovery Team is considered key to the conservation planning and implementation  process. It will provide a representative, collaborative and transparent framework for coordinated  conservation management of the species.

Membership of the Recovery Team includes representation from all stakeholder groups with an interest  in Maugean skate conservation management, including the Australian, State, and local governments,  Hydro Tasmania, aquaculture industry, local community, research organisations, natural resource  managers, and environmental non-government organisations. An invitation to join the Recovery Team  has also been extended to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, Copper Mines of Tasmania, and the  West Coast Recreation Association. The Recovery Team plans to meet on approximately a quarterly  basis, with more regular meetings organised if required.

SUMMARY OF OUTCOMES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE RECOVERY TEAM 

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) and the Australian  Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) jointly  hosted the first meeting of the National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate in Hobart on 27 July  2023. The first meeting of the Recovery Team discussed the Terms of Reference, the role and  responsibilities of the Recovery Team and its members, and elected key officers including Chair, Vice Chair and Coordinator. The Recovery Team also agreed to convene smaller topic-specific ad-hoc sub groups if required.

After a series of technical workshops with stakeholders and experts which outlined the threats to the  species and the current state of the Macquarie harbour system, a structured decision-making workshop  was held in Hobart 25-26 July 2023. The outcomes of this workshop was provided to the Recovery  Team for consideration.

The agreed primary objective for immediate short term action was to develop a strategy, based on the  best available information, aimed at preventing the extinction of the Maugean skate and maximise its  recovery in the wild, while simultaneously minimising the impact of conservation actions on local  communities and industries. It was agreed the strategy will need to consider the following key areas:  environmental remediation and pressures on Macquarie Harbour; the initiation of captive breeding  programs; and the effects of other threatening processes such as predation, climate change, and bycatch  of the skate during recreational and commercial fishing.

The Recovery Team will work together over coming months to formulate and implement a roadmap of  actions designed to meet the agreed objective. The Recovery Team agreed that time is critical for this  species and that, early intervention of science-based management strategies is required. The  deliberations of the Recovery Team will also inform the development and implementation of the  Tasmanian Conservation Action Plan and Commonwealth Conservation Advice for the species.

RECOVERY TEAM MEMBERS

Featured image above: Maugean skate, Zearaja maugeana. Copyright Jane Rucker/IMAS.

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 4 August 2023

Tasmanian Environment groups excluded from Maugean Skate Recovery Team

The State government has released the outcomes from the recent Federal and State government workshops focusing on the extinction of the Maugean Skate in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.

In a short two-page communique the Tasmanian and Federal governments have revealed that it has extended an invitation to such groups as the Copper Mines of Tasmania, but not a single Tasmanian environmental organisation has been offered a place on the Recovery Team.

It also says that it is starting with proactive and precautionary measures to address known threats, but provides no detail as to what these are, aside from changes to gillnetting, that were already underway.

“Minister Plibersek must immediately take proactive and precautionary measures against one of the biggest known threats, which is farmed salmon and trout farms in Macquarie Harbour,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“These farms need to be removed from Macquarie Harbour immediately. That is an obvious proactive and precautionary measure”.

“With industry lobby group Salmon Tasmania firmly present at the table, previously stating on radio that the science is ‘inconclusive’ on what is causing the imminent extinction of one of Australia’s oldest and unique animals, there must be a representative from the Tasmanian environment movement present that knows all too well the lengths industrial salmon will go to hide the truth”.

“The science is not inconclusive, in fact every other body in the Recovery Team is fully aware and, in some cases, conducted the science that showed salmon farming was affecting the Maugean Skates survival.”

“There is no need for a long a drawn out consultation when the science is already clear, fish farms must get out of Macquarie Harbour”

“I call on both Tanya Plibersek and Roger Jaensch to extend an offer to the Tasmanian environmental groups working on the Maugean Skate’s survival and our marine environments.”

Media release – 5 August 2023

Maugean Skate Recovery Team Fails to Agree to Act to Protect the Skate

The Australia Institute has found that a communique, released late on Friday 4^th August by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, is lacking action to prevent the extinction of the endangered Maugean skate.

The National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate Meeting 1: Public Communique describes the role of the Recovery Team, its members, and the summary of outcomes of its first meeting, but does not include agreed actions or timeframes.

Key points:

“The Australia Institute wrote to Minister Plibersek in June, calling on her to review the decision that allowed the expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour in 2012. The science is clear: the increase in fish farming in the Harbour is linked to the drop in dissolved oxygen. We know this is harming the skate.

“Minister Plibersek has obligations to act to protect the skate under the EPBC Act, the World Heritage Convention, Australian World Heritage management principles and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan.

“It’s a plan to make a plan. Will the Maugean skate become extinct while the Recovery Team keeps arguing?

“The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, acknowledged the key threat to the skate is low oxygen levels, the link with this to fish farming and the role of river flow management for hydroelectricity when she was in Hobart last month. It’s time to have some difficult conversations about changes to this industry – where it is safe for it to operate and moving out of where it is not. But instead, the Tasmanian Government keeps on subsidising it with public money.

 “It is apparent from the 2012 decision that the then federal environment Minister thought fish farming could expand in Macquarie Harbour without any significant impacts on the Maugean Skate. We now have ample evidence that shows that was wrong.

 “World Heritage Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania’s west coast, has suffered impacts from mining and forestry since the nineteenth century. But it’s the Harbour’s twenty-first century salmon industry that will go down in history for being linked to the extinction of a species if business as usual continues.”

Background

• In May this year, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) scientists interrupted an endangered Maugean skate monitoring program to call for urgent conservation action, after finding the population of skate has rapidly declined by almost half since 2014. Of particular concern is that they found very few juveniles coming through to keep the population viable.