Australian Government releases draft flying fox recovery plan

The Federal Department of Environment and Energy is calling for public comment on its draft grey headed flying fox recovery plan.

The plan sets out the research and management actions necessary to stop the decline of the species and support its recovery.

In nine recovery objectives, the plan recommends actions to improve the national population, identify and manage key flying fox foraging and roosting habitat, and increase awareness about flying-foxes, the threats they face and their importance to our ecosystems as seed dispersers and pollinators.

The plan also sets out ways to improve the community’s capacity to coexist with flying-foxes, while acknowledging the social and economic impacts and issues associated with urban camps.

It notes that in situations where dispersal is the best management option to balance conservation of flying foxes with the needs of local communities, these actions need to be carefully managed.

Eurobodalla Council will review the plan and consider a submission, taking into account the NSW and Australian Government approvals it has in place for flying fox management, as well as any implications for the Eurobodalla flying fox management plan to be prepared later this year.

Public comment is invited on the Australian Government’s draft recovery plan and closes on the 24 April 2017.

Meanwhile, Council reports that flying fox numbers in Eurobodalla have increased slightly at the camp on the golf course in Catalina. While residents have been reporting flying foxes foraging at night - particularly around Batemans Bay and Tuross Head, Surf Beach, Moruya and Moruya Heads, Long Beach, Batehaven and Malua Bay - no new camps have been identified in the urban areas.