Listing the Burrunan under FFG
In October 2021 after through assessment by the Scientific Advisory Committee, following International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria guidelines, the Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis) was listed under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (the FFG Act) as ‘Critically Endangered’.
The assessment is based on the Burrunan dolphin’s known life history, population size and decline, geographic range (extent of occurrence and/or area of occupancy), and threats.
Only described in 2011 and originally listed under the FFG Act in 2013, it is concerning to see the upgrading of the listing from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Critically Endangered’.
The Marine Mammal Foundation is the only organisation of its kind with a main focus on the Burrunan dolphin. We are not just undertaking science for science sake! All our research programs are designed to fill the gaps in knowledge about this species, to understand population size and structure, movement patterns, identify habitats of significance, and assess current and potential threatening processes impacting the Burrunan and their watery home! Importantly our research is used to help guide management and policy, and to raise community understanding about this amazing and iconic dolphin, that is endemic to our very small part of the world.
Key threats to the Burrunan dolphin are pollution (chemicals and heavy metals); disturbance from vessels interrupting core biological activities such as foraging and resting; underwater noise disturbance; litter and marine debris such as plastics; entanglement with fishing ropes; global climate change and environmental change impacting salinity and water quality; and the recently identified freshwater skin disease.
The Victorian State Government and East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority are the major funding bodies contributing to the Marine Mammal Foundation’s critical research. Research programs are undertaken in collaboration with RMIT, Curtin and Deakin Universities.
What is the FFG Act?
The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (the FFG Act) provides for the listing of taxa (genera, species, subspecies and varieties), threatened communities of flora and fauna and potentially threatening processes.
There are three lists:
· The Excluded List contains native flora and fauna taxa which are not to be conserved because they constitute a serious threat to human welfare (Note: the only item on this list is human disease organisms)
· The Threatened List contains taxa and communities of native flora and fauna which are threatened
· The Processes List contains potentially threatening processes.
Over 2,000 species, communities and threats are currently listed under the Act.
Recent amendments to the FFG Act have established a single comprehensive list of threatened flora and fauna species, known as “FFG Act Threatened List” (June 2023).
How are species assessed?
Following the Conservation Status Assessment project, each species has an assessment that is compliant with the Common Assessment Method (CAM).
CAM was agreed upon and established by the Australian Government and all states and territories in Australia. It uses consistent categories and criteria, and is applied at the ‘national scale’. CAM maintains the current high level of scientific rigour in the assessment and listing of threatened species across Australia, while promoting a more consistent, efficient and harmonised process.
CAM is based on the best practice standard developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as used to create the Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/, with some amendments to suit the Australian context.
Each species is assessed against the IUCN criteria, including the population extent and number, degree of decline and ongoing and future threats. A species may be assessed as threatened based on one or more of these criteria. The highest category of threat that a species is assessed against will apply.
A Scientific Advisory Committee (SCA) is established under section 8 of the FFG Act 1998, with its functions to advise the Minister for Environment on the listing of taxa or communities of flora and fauna and potentially threatening processes; and to advise the Minister on any other flora and fauna conservation matters.
The SAC consists of seven to nine scientists from government, education or private sector backgrounds appointed by the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. The majority are not Victorian Government employees. All members are knowledgeable and experienced in flora or fauna conservation or ecology. The convenor of the SAC is a non-government scientist.
What criteria is met (following the IUCN) is met to be considered “Critically Endangered”?
A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the following criteria (A to E), and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Below is a condensed version, for full Criterion see IUCN.
A. Reduction in population size based on any of the following:
1. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population size reduction of ≥90% over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the causes of the reduction are clearly reversible AND understood AND ceased.
2. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population size reduction of 80% or more over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible.
3. A population size reduction of 80% or more, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer (up to a maximum of 100 years).
4. An observed, estimated, inferred, projected or suspected population size reduction of 0% or more over any 10 year or three generation period, whichever is longer (up to a maximum of 100 years in the future), where the time period must include both the past and the future, and where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible, based on (and specifying) any of (a) to (e) under A1.
B. Geographic range in the form of either B1 (extent of occurrence) OR B2 (area of occupancy) OR both:
1. Extent of occurrence estimated to be less than 100 km2, and estimates indicating at least two of a-c:
a. Severely fragmented or known to exist at only a single location.
b. Continuing decline, observed, inferred or projected
c. Extreme fluctuations.
2. Area of occupancy estimated to be less than 10 km2, and estimate indicating at least two of a-c:
a. Severely fragmented or known to exist at only a single location.
b. Continuing decline, observed, inferred or projected, in any of the following:
c. Extreme fluctuations.
C. Population size estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals and either:
1. An estimated continuing decline of at least 25% within three years or one generation, whichever is longer, (up to a maximum of 100 years in the future) OR
2. A continuing decline, observed, projected, or inferred, in numbers of mature individuals AND at least one of the following: Population structure or extreme fluctuations in number of mature individuals.
D. Population size estimated to number fewer than 50 mature individuals.
E. Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 50% within 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer (up to a maximum of 100 years).
Original FFG Act Submission
In 2012 Dr Kate Robb submitted a nomination for the Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis), to be listed under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.
The SAC discussed the submission, sought other professional marine mammal expertise and in March 2013 recommended the Burrunan for listing.
The Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Ryan Smith, and the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Walsh, considered the recommendation made by the SAC (and various other recommendations) and in May 2013 listed the Burrunan dolphin as threatened under Schedule 1, sub-criterion 1.2.1 of the FFG Act. Sub-criterion 1.2.1 is defined by a taxon that is “very rare in terms of abundance or distribution”.
Useful links
https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/conserving-threatened-species/threatened-list
https://www.awe.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/cam#what-is-the-common-assessment-method
https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/redlistguidelines