EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities)
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth)
Revoking and Making the Recovery Plan for the White Shark
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (the EPBC Act) provides for the protection of the environment and conservation of biodiversity, including the protection and conservation of threatened species and ecological communities.
The purpose of this instrument is to revoke the current recovery plan for the white shark, the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Recovery Plan 2002, and to make a new recovery plan, the Recovery Plan for the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) 2013.
Revoking the Recovery Plan for the White Shark
Section 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) in conjunction with section 269A(2) of the EPBC Act enables the Minister at any time to revoke a recovery plan. The first purpose of this instrument is to revoke the current recovery plan for the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Recovery Plan, made in 2002.
Making a Recovery Plan for the White Shark
Part 13, Division 5, subdivision A of the EPBC Act provides for the making, or adoption of, recovery plans for listed threatened species or listed threatened ecological communities, which bind the Commonwealth and Commonwealth agencies.
Section 269A(2) of the EPBC Act enables the Minister to make a written recovery plan for the purposes of the protection, conservation and management of a listed threatened species or listed threatened ecological community.
The second purpose of this instrument is to make a new recovery plan for the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), the Recovery Plan for the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) 2013.
This recovery plan meets the requirements of section 270 of the EPBC Act and regulation 7.11 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 (Cth) (the Regulations). It sets out the research and management actions necessary to stop the decline of, and support the recovery of, the white shark throughout its range in Australian waters.
Section 274 of the EPBC Act, which requires the Minister to obtain and consider advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee on the content of the recovery plan, has been met.
In accordance with section 275 of the EPBC Act, the draft recovery plan was open for public comment from April to July 2010. A notice inviting comments from the public on the recovery plan was advertised in the Commonwealth of Australia Government Notices Gazette (No. GN 16, 28 April 2010), The Australian newspaper (22 April 2010) and on the website of the Australian Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. As per section 276 of the EPBC Act, all comments were considered in making the recovery plan.
This recovery plan is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (Cth).
The Recovery Plan for the White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) 2013 commences on the day after this recovery plan is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Authority: Section 269A(2) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).