The Department of the Environment and Energy has released the draft recovery plan for the Grey-headed Flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus (GHFF) and requested comments from the public.  The Ecology Special Interest Section (SIS) will be preparing a submission on the draft plan and this is your opportunity to contribute. 

The GHFF is listed as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and occurs along the coastal and inland areas of Queensland and New South Wales with more recent range extensions into Victoria, the ACT and Adelaide. 

Actions under the draft plan aim to:

• Improve the national population trend
• Identify, manage and secure key foraging and roosting habitat;
• Improve the community’s capacity to coexist with flying-foxes
• Increase awareness about flying-foxes, the threats they face and the important ecosystem services they provide as seed disperses and pollinators. 

Specifically, comments from members are requested on:

• Information gaps with respect to the species ecology, range, feeding and roosting behaviour and interaction with co-existing species Little Red Flying-fox P. scapulatus and Black Flying-fox P. alecto
• Perceived risk of disease transmission from GHFF
• Current permitted lethal take of GHFF in Queensland and NSW
• Managing flying-fox camps in proximity to residents or sensitive sites
• Threatening processes not included in recovery plan
• Recovery objectives, actions and performance criteria.

Although recovery plans necessarily relate only to species listed under the EPBC Act, the GHFF’s co-existence with other flying-fox species means that the lines are blurred in terms of managing feeding habitats and camps.  Therefore, comments are also requested on approaches for management of flying-fox populations that also support the recovery of the GHFF.

The draft recovery plan is available here →

Comments on the draft plan can be forwarded to Dave Fleming , Ecology SIS Chair (dfleming@ehpartners.com.au) or your Division President.  

The public comment period will close on 24 April 2017. Comments from members are requested by 31 March 2017 in order to provide sufficient time to prepare the submission on behalf of the Institute.