Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
populations involved. A section of the report entitled
'Significant Australian
Birdstrikes'
refers to significant effects on aircraft or safety. However, I was able to
identifyaminimumof17speciesofbirdsreportedasinvolvedincollisionsthatare
of conservation significance and are listed under provisions of the Commonwealth
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999)
(EPBCAct)for
threatened and/or migratory species. In addition, a number of poorly identified taxa
(e.g.'lying-fox','egret'etc.)almostcertainlyincludeadditionalEPBCAct-listed
species.
On the basis of available information, it appears that aircraft probably account
for higher numbers of bird and bat deaths than those caused by wind energy in
Australia and they similarly encompass a wide variety of species.
ResultsofasurveybytheCivilAviationSafetyAuthorityofall315certiiedand
registered aerodromes across Australia are included in the Australian Transport
SafetyBureau(
2012
) report. This provides information on methods in use to reduce
andmitigatefaunastrikehazardtoreducetheriskofaircraftaccidents.Notallaero-
dromes provided a response.
Methodsinuseincluded:
• Habitatremovalormodiication(50-90%ofaerodromessurveyedandvariable
according to climatic zones);
• Useofauditoryrepellents(58%ofaerodromessurveyedemployedpyrotechnics
and/or shotguns in attempts to scare birds);
• Birdremovalbyshooting,eggornestdestruction(approximately60%ofaero-
dromes surveyed); and
• Trappingandpoisoning(10%ofaerodromessurveyed).
The report provides a number of interesting case histories, such as this:
During the takeoff from Avalon aerodrome and approximately midway along the runway,
the737aircraftstruckalockofsmallseabirds.Themainareasoftheaircraftstruckwere
the wings and both engines. Thirty-nine dead birds and two injured birds were found on the
runway by ground personnel following the strike. A later engineering inspection found that
the fan blades in the right engine were damaged during the birdstrike. The species of bird
wasnotidentiied(22November2009).
AvalonAirportiswithinaRamsarwetlandofinternationalimportance.Thefact
thatthespeciesof'smallseabirds'wasnotidentiiedsuggeststheywerenotaread-
ily identified species (they clearly were not a common species like silver gull
Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae
) and the local area is heavily used by a range of
internationally protected migratory shorebirds. It is possible that the birds were one
of a number of migratory species protected under the EPBCAct andAustralia's
obligations under one or more international conventions. It is hard to imagine that a
single collision event involving 41 birds of such a species at a wind farm might
occur without the requirement for substantial investigation and potential
consequences.
The point here is not to make any judgment about the aviation industry or of any
otherhumanactivitythatcausesfaunafatalities.Butitdoesappearthatquitediffer-
ent paradigms operate with regard to societal and legislative response to different
