LITTLE PENGUINS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation regarding the Granite Island little penguins.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: As the minister would be aware, little penguin numbers on Granite Island have been slowly declining since the early 1990s. Unfortunately, little penguin colonies are already extinct on West and Wright islands. In 2012 a Friends of Encounter Seabirds survey reported population numbers had decreased from an estimated 1,600 to 1,800 penguins in the year 2000 to approximately 20. The little penguins are a valued fauna asset of South Australia. They support Victor Harbor's tourist scene and are also an important part of the environmental wellbeing of Granite Island. My questions are:

1. Has the minister reviewed the current situation with respect to the Granite Island little penguins since becoming minister?

2. Has the minister consulted stakeholders regarding the issue and has the minister taken any actions as a consequence?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his most important question about the little penguin. I understand there are about 90 little penguin colonies in South Australia. These colonies fluctuate from year to year in response to numerous environmental influences. The scale of recent declines near Victor Harbor and Kangaroo Island are too great to be explained simply, though, by changing seasonal conditions. Some people have linked the decline to fur seals, but I am advised that there is not sufficient data to support that hypothesis.

New Zealand fur seals are known to kill and eat little penguins. However, I am advised by my department that penguins are not a significant part of their diet. New Zealand fur seals are native to South Australia and have a national distribution that coincides relatively closely with that of the little penguin. This is likely to have been the case prior to European settlement (although we cannot know), suggesting strongly that the two species have always coexisted.

Little penguin colonies at Granite Island, West Island, Penneshaw and Kingscote are subject to a wide range of threats, both on land and at sea, yet some other little penguin colonies are stable despite coexisting with large populations of New Zealand fur seals. I am advised that recent commissioned reports recommend that current management programs at these little penguin colonies should continue to focus on threat abatement activities on land and that these be revised to include more effective land predator control, revegetation of nesting habitats (including the provision of artificial nests), and the protection of nesting/burrowing habitat from coastal developments to maintain spatial extent of colonies.

I know that local declines of little penguins at Victor Harbor and Kangaroo Island are of great concern to many in the community. I would like to assure the community that there is much happening around this issue. A number of government agencies are working together to investigate the extent of and contributing causes to localised declines in little penguin colonies. Many research projects are being undertaken to gain a better understanding of the drivers of penguin colony dynamics and to determine what, if anything, can be done practically to address these local declines.

The South Australian Research and Development Institute has recently secured funds to complete a statewide assessment of the status and trends in abundance of the New Zealand fur seal colonies in South Australia. This survey will be completed in 2014 and will involve a statewide census of New Zealand fur seal pup production, including all colonies on and around Kangaroo Island.

The department is also partnering with another South Australian Research and Development Institute research project that will examine the diets of New Zealand fur seals using DNA testing of faecal samples. This will provide information on the frequencies of little penguins in the diets of New Zealand fur seals. Departmental staff and volunteers, I am advised, are working together to investigate the extent of and contributing causes to localised declines in little penguin colonies.

For example, monitoring of the declining colonies on Kangaroo Island and at Victor Harbor continues, and monitoring of other colonies on Kangaroo Island has been undertaken for comparison. Nesting burrows at a few locations on Kangaroo Island have also had camera traps established, I am told, at their entrances, to determine the frequencies of visits by potential land-based predators; for example, cats and rats. At the state and national level, the conservation status of little penguins is secure. It is not listed as threatened under state or federal legislation, is my advice.