Report
Large marine fauna in NSW – a systematic review of existing knowledge
National Marine Science Centre
10/2023
Metrics
11 Record Views
Abstract
Large marine fauna are fundamental components of coastal ecosystems. The New South Wales coastline provides important habitat for approximately 64 species of marine mammals and reptiles, including sea turtles, sea snakes, dolphins, whales, seals and dugongs. These species use coastal waters and adjacent land for foraging, breeding, residing, or traversing as part of a larger migratory route. Although such activity influences fisheries and contributes to ecotourism in NSW state waters, there are limited long-term, broad-scale population studies specific to NSW’s marine wildlife that could assist managers in assessing changes in many species of marine mammals and reptiles that may require management intervention. This systematic review provides the first summary of state-wide research on marine mammals and reptiles for NSW. We identified 165 peer-reviewed journal articles and 32 government/independent reports that featured large marine fauna. These animals were either observed, tagged or sampled in NSW waters. Our review identified 64 species listed as protected under State, Commonwealth or International legislation, that are known or likely to occur within NSW coastal waters. Overall, iconic marine species, such as humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins, dominated studies. There were, however, fewer studies on less common or lesser-known species of marine mammals and reptiles in NSW. The majority of scientific publications fell within a few research categories, predominantly ‘population assessments, migration and feeding behaviours’ followed by ‘human interactions (including tourism, collisions and interactions with fishing)’. Our review highlights a paucity of information currently available on many marine mammal and reptile species in NSW, particularly marine turtles. As growing human populations exert pressure on the NSW coastal environment, and the NSW coast continues to be a climate-change hotspot, we recommend (i) prioritising research into understudied marine mammal and reptile species that are threatened, such as sea turtles and (ii) compiling existing datasets for NSW marine mammals and reptiles to use as a baseline for future work. Such an approach could help underpin management actions to conserve NSW’s large marine fauna into the future.
Details
- Title
- Large marine fauna in NSW – a systematic review of existing knowledge
- Creators
- Melissa Tan - Southern Cross UniversityDuane T. March - National Parks and Wildlife ServiceBrendan Kelaher - Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- National Marine Science Centre
- Number of pages
- 68
- Grant note
- NSW Government
- Identifiers
- 991013153313402368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Report