Mollusc conservation and the New South WalesThreatened Species Conservation Act 1995:the Recovery Program for Mitchell's Rainforest SnailThersites mitchellae

Abstract

The New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act), administered by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, has a primary objective of conserving the state's biological diversity. The listing of threatened fauna under the TSC Act, however, is heavily weighted towards vertebrates, with invertebrates (constituting 99% of the state's fauna diversity) comprising only 4% of the listed threatened fauna species and populations (as at 30 November 2001). Of an estimated 700 land snail species in coastal and near-coastal eastern Australia, only three species have been listed under the TSC Act.This paper discusses the capacity of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the TSC Act to assist with the conservation of molluscan diversity in New South Wales in general terms and with specific reference to the endangered land snail Thersites mitchellae (Mitchell's Rainforest Snail). While difficulties in applying the TSC Act to the conservation of molluscs and other invertebrates do exist,...