The Rockliff Liberal Government continues to progress efforts to protect the endangered Maugean skate.
Today, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Roger Jaensch, released a Conservation Action Plan that steps out a range of priorities to ensure the long-term survival of the skate population in Macquarie Harbour.
The objectives of the Plan are to
- Ensure that viable habitat in Macquarie Harbour is available to meet the needs of the Maugean skate
- Establish an ex-situ Maugean skate population for future reintroduction
- Implement strategies to reduce threats to the Maugean skate population
- Actively engage key stakeholders, including the community, in Maugean skate conservation recovery actions
- Maintain and strengthen the knowledge base for Maugean skate recovery
“The Plan identifies and prioritises areas of research and management strategies and will ensure efforts are coordinated, effective and focused,” Minister Jaensch said.
“Importantly, the Government has not waited for the Conservation Action Plan to be finalised, with some key actions in the plan already under way.
“This includes early captive breeding work being undertaken by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), who we are confident have the best expertise in the world to conduct this important work.”
So far, the program has successfully hatched skate eggs collected from Macquarie Harbour, and eggs have also been laid by an adult skate collected from the wild.
Other actions undertaken or commenced in the last year include:
- A reduced cap on nitrogen (in fish feed) inputs into the harbour;
- Restrictions on recreational gillnetting in the harbour;
- New environmental standards for marine finfish farming;
- New environmental licence conditions for aquaculture in the harbour;
- Industry investment in remediation of dissolved oxygen levels in the harbour; and
- Creation of the National Recovery Team, which has informed the development of the Conservation Action Plan
“The Rockliff Liberal Government committed $2.1 million in 2023-24 to protect the skate by supporting actions which are identified in early drafts of the Conservation Action Plan,” Minister Jaensch said.
“As well as supporting captive breeding, funding is contributing to modelling, monitoring, and project management, and will inform decisions that balance the protection of the skate while acknowledging the economic and social values of the West Coast.
“This recent commitment builds on the more than $2.5 million in funding and in-kind support for research into the Maugean skate the Tasmanian Government has provided since 2014.
“This plan reflects the best science and evidence currently available and will be revised as conservation actions are completed and new knowledge emerges.
“We will continue to work closely with the National Recovery Team whose scientific expertise will help guide us to support the recovery of the species.
“We thank the many stakeholders who have worked closely with the Department of Natural Resource and Environment Tasmania to inform development of the plan.
“There are a diverse range of views on this issue and we will continue to listen to our many stakeholders as we move to implement key actions.”
Workshops, structured decision-making, expert panels, collection of data and consolidation of research have all informed the Conservation Action Plan.
The National Recovery Team includes Tasmanian and Australian Government officials, salmon industry stakeholders, IMAS, CSIRO and West Coast community representatives.
The Conservation Action Plan can be found at https://nre.tas.gov.au/skate-plan
