EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Instrument under section 209(1)(b)

(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources)

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) places certain obligations on the Commonwealth to protect and conserve migratory species, including a requirement for the establishment and maintenance of a list of migratory species under paragraph 209(1)(a) of the Act.

Paragraph 209(3)(a) of the Act requires that the list of migratory species include all native species that are from time to time included in the appendices to the Bonn Convention.

The purpose of this instrument is to amend the list of migratory species, pursuant to paragraph 209(1)(b) of the Act, so that the list includes all species required to be included under paragraph 209(3)(a), following amendments to the Appendices of the Bonn Convention agreed to at the 8th Conference of the Parties, held in Nairobi, Kenya from 20 - 25 November 2005.

The following Australian Government and State agencies were consulted in writing, in May 2005, regarding the proposed listing of the basking shark to Appendices I and II of the Bonn Convention:

• Australian Antarctic Division, Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources
• Australian Fisheries Management Authority
• Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
• Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales)
• Department for Environment and Heritage (South Australia)
• Department of Primary Industries Water and Environment (Tasmania)
• Department of Primary Industries (Victoria)
• Department of Conservation and Land Management (Western Australia)
• Department of Fisheries (Western Australia)

Agencies in Queensland and the Northern Territory were not consulted as the basking shark does not occur in their waters.

Broader consultation with Australian Government and State Agencies, fishing groups and non-government organisations was undertaken in 2002, during the development of the Australian Government position on the proposed listing of the basking shark on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at the 12th Conference of the Parties. Given the extensive nature of consultation in 2002, the rare incidence of basking sharks in Australian waters, and the lack of new information regarding the species, it was not deemed necessary to repeat the extensive consultation process for the nomination to the Appendices of the Bonn Convention.

This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

This instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.