This report provides an overview of key photo-identification datasets of southern right whales and evaluation of their population dynamics and connectivity/structuring in Australian waters. This includes evaluating progress on national Conservation Management Plan targets in Australian waters and prioritising conservation efforts at the state level. Overall, sightings data of individuals supports current understanding of habitat use and migration pathways of two sub-populations within Australia. Analysis of population trends show that while the south-west sub-population continues to increase, there are signs of a slowing recovery rate, with a potential emerging cyclical pattern of years of low sightings of females with calves. The opportunistic data from the south-east region and inability to account for varying effort on sightings currently limits robust population trend estimation either at the sub-population or national scales. Several recommendations are provided for further work.

This project integrated existing sea snake occurrence data, field surveys and trawl interaction data to define the habitat suitability, distribution and area of occurrence of 27 species of sea snakes within the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ). Areas of high diversity and endemism within the North-west and Northern marine region were defined, identifying south-west Gulf of Carpentaria as a region with the highest diversity, with the North-west Shelf region (i.e. Scott Reef and the north-west shoals) as a region of high sea snake endemism. Habitat suitability model spatial outputs were overlayed with annual fishing effort data using Automated Identification System (AIS) data from fishing vessels, to assess sea snake species exposure to trawl fishing. Overlap analysis identified regions along the Pilbara coastline and within the Gulf of Carpentaria as regions with significant overlap between trawl fishing effort and highly suitable habitats for sea snakes. Species with restricted ranges that fell within fishing grounds within the North-west marine region were identified to have high levels of spatial exposure to fishing activities.