Aerial video of fin whales

AN ANTARCTIC SAFE HAVEN

Whales are facing increasing dangers along their migrational journeys. Learn how we can protect our ocean giants and make their epic journeys safer for years to come.

HELP SECURE AN ANTARCTIC SAFE HAVEN – SIGN NOW!

Australia's pristine subantarctic Islands off the southwest coast of the continent is an ocean oasis and critical feeding grounds abundant with krill – a tiny but mighty animal that allows our marine ecosystem to thrive.

Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is a sanctuary, providing vital sources of krill for an array of animals, including elephant seals, macaroni penguins and more. The majestic sperm whale has even been spotted feeding in this untouched wonderland - an important stop on their long migratory journey along the whale superhighways.

This sanctuary is safe from fishing nets, ocean pollution and ever-expanding ship traffic. Right now, the marine reserve is undergoing a once-in-a-decade review. This our chance to secure expanded protection of this vital underwater haven.

We’re asking the Australian Government to commit to:

Significantly expanding the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve boundaries, in line with the Australian government's 30x30 protection targets.
Ensure the marine reserve is protected under IUCN Categories 1 and 2, ensuring that the area is free from activities like industrial fishing.

By signing this petition, you will:

Send an email to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, calling on her to significantly expand the protected area of Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve.
Make a submission into the Australian Antarctic Divisions review process, calling on them to expand the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, and ensure that protections from industries like fishing are strengthened.

Our ocean wildlife, from tiny krill to giant whales, need you. Add your voice now to call on the Australian government to secure an Antarctic safe haven.

HELP SECURE AN ANTARCTIC SAFE HAVEN – SIGN NOW!

We’re asking the Australian Government to commit to:

Significantly expanding the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve boundaries, in line with the Australian government's 30x30 protection targets.
Ensure the marine reserve is protected under IUCN Categories 1 and 2, ensuring that the area is free from activities like industrial fishing.

By signing this petition, you will:

Send an email to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, calling on her to significantly expand the protected area of Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve.
Make a submission into the Australian Antarctic Divisions review process, calling on them to expand the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, and ensure that protections from industries like fishing are strengthened.

Our ocean wildlife, from tiny krill to giant whales, need you. Add your voice now to call on the Australian government to secure an Antarctic safe haven.

Petition email preview

Dear Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, I am emailing you today to call for an expansion of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve as it undergoes a once-in-a-decade review. Heard Island and McDonald Islands are critical habitats for many marine birds and mammals, and the surrounding waters are prime foraging areas for marine predators, including threatened seals and albatross, an endemic cormorant and four penguin species. These waters also provide a breeding ground for the Patagonian toothfish, a species at risk from industrial fishing. These islands and their surrounding oceanic ecosystem are incredibly important for iconic and endangered marine wildlife, like elephant seals, macaroni penguins and sperm whales. Fur seals, albatross and other seabird species also strongly depend on this region for survival. Globally, oceans are under pressure from a myriad of threats. Climate change, destructive fishing like gill netting, unsustainable demand for seafood, plastic pollution, growing ship traffic and industrial development are impacting the marine ecosystem, making it more and more difficult for species like sperm whales and elephant seals to thrive. This makes protecting unique, remote and sensitive marine ecosystems like Heard Island and McDonald Islands even more critical. Right now, the Australian Antarctic Division is reviewing the existing management of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve to ensure regions of high biodiversity and conservation value are adequately protected. Currently, 71,200km² of this critical oceanic ecosystem is protected from threats like fishing - but, given the complex marine ecosystem around Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the globally significant conservation values, much, much more is needed. This is an opportunity for you, as Minister for the Environment and Water, to help meet this target by future-proofing and expanding the boundaries of the existing marine park to ensure comprehensive and robust protection under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected area categories I and II, restricting activities like fishing and creating an even bigger haven for subantarctic marine wildlife. Minister Plibersek, we call on you and the Australian Government to significantly expand the size of Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve as a contribution to Australia’s target of 30% spatial coverage of marine and terrestrial protected areas by 2030. Our iconic and endangered species, like the sperm whale and the macaroni penguin, depend on this marine park for their populations to thrive. Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

Why whales need our help

Growing evidence shows thriving populations of whales are essential to a healthy ocean and planet. The benefits they provide – from capturing carbon to enhancing marine productivity – only strengthen the case for protecting them.

Despite the vital role they play in the health of our planet and our lives, whales are facing a barrage of growing threats from humans.

While the global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 allowed some populations to recover from the brink of extinction, some have not. Six out of the 13 great whale species globally are now classified as Endangered or Vulnerable – including southern right whales that migrate along the Australian coast.

All around the world, mounting threats from human activities are making migrations between feeding and breeding grounds increasingly dangerous for whales.

The biggest threats to Australia's whales

Climate change

 Climate change is shifting prey populations, making it harder and harder for whales to find food. Warming waters are also causing sea-ice levels to fluctuate across Antarctica – directly impacting the number of krill available, the primary food source for whales and other marine animals, disrupting the timing of important life events such as migration and resulting in the decline of critical sea-ice habitats that protect them from predators.

Fisheries bycatch

As many as 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are killed globally every year from entanglement in fishing gear. Research has highlighted entanglement hot spots along the east and west coast of Australia, regions where high human population density, high fishing effort and high-density of migrating humpback whales all occur.

Growing ship traffic

An ever-expanding fleet of ship traffic (linked to increasing exports of natural resources) in seasonal humpback breeding grounds and along migration routes is increasing ship strikes and underwater noise pollution for Australia’s whales.

Pollution

Plastics, chemicals (including pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and personal-care products), underwater noise and leaks and spills from oil and gas exploration are impacting whales, their prey and their habitats.

Offshore oil and gas drilling

Oil and gas exploration and extraction disturb whales and their prey through underwater noise pollution, construction of supporting infrastructure, oil leaks, associated shipping and the potential for large, catastrophic oil spills. The seismic noise used for offshore oil and gas is much louder and more intense than acoustic mapping for offshore wind.

What are whale superhighways?

An infographic showing whale superhighways

Whale Superhighways © WWF

Whale superhighways – or blue corridors – are migration routes that allow whales to move between different ocean habitats – areas where they feed, mate, give birth, nurse young and socialise. Whales rely on these critical habitats and the migration routes that connect them for their survival.

Whales travel these migration routes often along the coast, but also across the open ocean, in and out of international and national waters – some for thousands of kilometres each year. Sadly, these paths often overlap with human activity, endangering whale populations in these areas.

Mapping of global whale superhighways by WWF and partners is helping to identify where migratory routes and key habitat areas overlap with a range of emerging and cumulative impacts - helping inform how we can better protect and manage critical ocean habitats for whales worldwide.

Learn more about superhighways here

Blue Corridors of the Eastern Pacific Ocean report

pdf 12.53 MB

Protecting Blue Corridors report

pdf 28.07 MB

What WWF is doing to help

Safeguarding whale superhighways to protect existing whale populations and connect their critical habitats and migration corridors.

Southern white whale with calf= South Australia

Calling on the Australian Government at all levels to play its part and build on its track record of protecting whales to:

Reduce fisheries bycatch and implement whale-safe fishing gear.
Set mandatory ship 'slow down' rules and other measures to reduce underwater noise and risks of ship strikes.

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calf male with injured pectoral fin and scarred body= with mother in the Pacific Ocean

Recognising the critical role Traditional Owners and local communities play in protecting and managing the marine environment and supporting their aspirations to do so.

Learn more

Regenerative Saltwater

Regenerative Saltwater is our program of work to protect oceans and species in the southern hemisphere. Learn about our goal to Regenerate Nature by 2030 here.