BirdLife Tasmania. Annual General Meeting, 8 March 2018 TASMANIA

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1 BirdLife Tasmania Annual General Meeting, 8 March 2018 TASMANIA

2 BirdLife Tasmania - Annual General Meeting 2018 Agenda: Convenor s Annual Report Treasurer s Financial Report Adoption of 2017 AGM minutes Election of 2018/19 Office Bearers Presentation by Dr Mike Newman, Life Member, BirdLife Australia The contribution of the amateur to Australian ornithology (Citizen science - BirdLife Tas rebranded)

3 BirdLife Tasmania - Annual General Meeting 2018 Convenor s Annual Report Report for BirdLife Tasmania 2017/18 provides a brief overview of our activities, achievements and outcomes under two broad headings: communication, engagement and education science-based advocacy and conservation

4 BirdLife Tasmania Communication, engagement and education High quality productions of YellowThroat and Tasmanian Bird Report - dependent upon submission of articles for publication Thanks to Sharon Moore and Wynne Webber for editing YellowThroat and Tasmanian Bird Report respectively - with increasing quality (and work load) with each issue Andrew Darby (Twitter) and Amanda Blakney (Facebook), increasing our profile and engagement with local, national communities via social media, some postings have high impact with extensive repostings Maureen Duffy - tirelessly organising and leading excursions throughout southern Tasmania, key role in engaging with broader community, nonmembers and visitors to the state

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6 BirdLife Tasmania Communication, engagement and education Invited to participate in high-profile community events such as the 2018 Bruny I Bird Festival, larapuna coast walk, Love Living Locally, World Wetlands Day Numerous talks to community groups around the state on wide-ranging topics, strong conservation message based on data, research and arguing for best-practice approaches for conservation and management Extensive engagement with Councils, NRMs, community groups, DPIPWE and PWS statewide through membership of various advisory and stakeholder groups (eg Invasive Species, shorebirds) Teaching 2 nd year U Tas Zoology students (Tas Fauna class) Supporting higher degree students through small grants to aid research efforts Numerous media releases, interviews and media articles to highlight conservation issues, resulting in high community profile of group

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8 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and reports/data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Commissioned/funded surveys, monitoring and data analyses and reports: Little Penguins on Bruny I (State Growth), Silver Gulls and shorebirds on Bruny I (Kingborough Council), Prosser River [Orford] dredging (MAST), Robbins Island windfarm (GHD), Meredith River (GSB Council), Silver Gulls (Dept State Growth), Storm Bay seabirds (Aquenal and Huon Aquaculture), woodland bird surveys (Tasmanian Fire Service) Ongoing Derwent Estuary Program penguin monitoring (Peter Vertigan) Seabird islands surveys in conjunction with PWS, Councils and landowners Beach-nesting bird mapping and surveys (shorebirds and terns): records, approaching 20 year span - largest data set of its type in Australia Long-term Summer and Winter Wader Counts in SE, N/NE and NW for national Shorebirds 2020 program (resident and migratory shorebirds) Winter Gull Counts for SE Tasmania, 1980+

9 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Increased effort on woodland bird surveys and surveys inside KBAs - focus on using standard surveys and Birdata portal for entry and analyses ( birdata.birdlife.org.au ) improving our ability to detect changes in woodland birds in Tasmania engaging with Tas Fire Service, NRM South and NRM North to increase survey efforts compatible with existing Atlas data - funding for our efforts, included in National Landcare Program 2 bids producing annual State of Tasmanian Birds - analysing patterns and trends in ~100 Tasmanian species from Atlas survey data only (ebird and Eremaea data are incompatible with Atlas data analyses), annual syntheses to be published in Tasmanian Bird Report both efforts under the leadership of, and championed by Mike Newman

10 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Figure 2: Temporal trends in repor3ng rates of the three thornbill species that occur in Tasmania.

11 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation 2645 surveys involving 73 people, 171 species recorded 2ha 20min surveys (48%), 500m (33%), 5km (8%), many repeat surveys aim to have broader spread statewide

12 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Seabirds at sea research program on board CSIRO RV Investigator, undertaking dedicated seabird observations around Australia in conjunction with Australasian Seabird Group

13 5 voyages to date, 3 further voyages in observations of 50,000+ seabirds also recording all marine mammals further voyages 2019+

14 banded Gibson s Albatross from Auckland Islands resighted at sea, March 2017, believed to be close to 50y of age ship-based at-sea observations linking colony-based tracking studies in which few birds tracked away from colonies

15 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Little Penguins at the Neck colony on Bruny Island surveys to map colony, establish fixed colony transects to estimate annual breeding population size and trends over time, locate colony access points and penguin runways surveys to estimate potential impact associated with road sealing and construction of new car park surveys to assess use of culverts placed under sealed road to reduce road kill of penguins

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17 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation

18 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation phases of observations mid Oct late Jan 2018 cameras in place 7-10 days rapid adoption of culverts by penguins Frequency Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

19 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Shorebird and small tern monitoring, Prosser River stabilisation project by MAST and Glamorgan Spring Bay Council surveys to monitor breeding shorebirds and Fairy Terns on sandbar(s) at the mouth of the Prosser River during late Winter and early Spring dredging operations and during Summer when no dredging operations occurred fewer breeding pairs of Hooded and Red-capped Plovers, Pied Oystercatchers increased aggression amongst Pied Oystercatchers observed, birds forced to walk through other pairs territories to access foraging habitat small Fairy Tern colony (12-14 pairs) established, abandoned in late January catastrophic failure of numerous bags, dredging efforts now on hold

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21 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation

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23 BirdLife Tasmania - science-based advocacy and conservation Research efforts (primarily surveys and data analyses) and long-term monitoring of broad range of species and habitats: Database efforts continue, critical to all of our submissions and representations approaching 1.6M records statewide since ~1840s, ongoing development include at-sea records - increasingly important for off-shore aquaculture expansion and likely interest in off-shore wind farms include all eremaea and ebird records - harvested as incidental

24 BirdLife Tasmania - Into the Future Activities and foci for 2018/19 to build on very successful current strategy that has resulted in BirdLife Tasmania now seen as professional organisation, capable of providing skilled, evidence-based advice based on extensive expertise on a wide range of issues to stakeholders, managers and regulators: increased influence in Tasmanian and Local Governments, NRMs in the conservation and management of Tasmania s birds and their habitats ongoing surveys and monitoring for existing long-term data sets, further analyses of data to provide ongoing advice and guidance emphasis on Atlas survey protocols, increased use and promotion of Birdata increased community engagement and awareness, increased relevance of BirdLife Tasmania to the broader Tasmanian community

25 BirdLife Tasmania - Into the Future Foci for 2018/19: Prosser River dredging/ stabilisation /excavation/rehabilitation...? Robbins Island windfarm Sustainable Timbers Tasmania re Swift Parrots off-shore aquaculture expansion (Storm Bay, King Island, northwest Tasmania) contribution to developing national seabird campaign surveys and monitoring for NRM South and NRM North if Landcare bids funded ongoing TFS surveys hosting the 2018 Australasian Shorebird Conference in Hobart (October)

26 BirdLife Tasmania - Acknowledgements BirdLife Tasmania s efficacy with NRMs, State and Local Governments, other community groups and commercial operators statewide is due entirely to the significant and extensive voluntary efforts of the Committee and members throughout Tasmania Committee members provide almost 6 FTE in support of BirdLife Tasmania efforts each month, year-long in the absence of these ongoing, considerable efforts, the conservation status of Tasmania s birds and their habitats would be considerably poorer Important to recognise efforts of Amanda Blakney (Secretary, Facebook), Sue Drake (Treasurer), Andrew Darby (Twitter), Maureen Duffy (excursions), Sharon Moore (YellowThroat), Wynne Webber (Tasmanian Bird Report), Dr Mike Newman (birdata), and Pamela Hinsby, Dr Rosemary Sandford, Dr Geoff Shannon and Andrew Walter (Committee) for their sustained and remarkable efforts thanks also to Margaret Bennett, Hazel Britton, Ralph Cooper, Nick Ramshaw and Liz Znidersic for their efforts

27 BirdLife Tasmania - Acknowledgements BirdLife Tasmania s demonstrated influence in conservation efforts throughout the state is proof that a voluntary, community-based organisation can result in on-ground improvements to conservation efforts and outcomes through the adoption of a high professional standard in all aspects of its operations Important that all members take pride in these achievements - while recognising more effort is required each year as the spectrum of threats to Tasmania s birds and their habitats, and their intensities increases