Aerial Kangaroo Surveys in Western Australia

The Department of Parks and Wildlife (the “Customer”) requires the provision of aerial survey data for kangaroos and other large animals in Western Australia (the “Service(s)”).

Aerial surveys are flown each year to estimate the size of kangaroo populations from which commercial harvest quotas are set. Other large animals, especially feral ungulates and emus, are also counted during the surveys.

For the purpose of the aerial survey program, WA is divided into four survey zones: Northern, Central, South East and South West. The Northern, Central and South East zones are flown every three years in winter (June-August) and the South West Zone is flown each year in late September or early October. Transects in the Northern, Central and South East zones are flown in an east-west direction at 15’ and 45’ of latitude. Transects in the South West Zone are flown in either north-south or east-west direction at variable coordinates.

In recent years, between 70 and 82 hours of flying time has been required to complete the surveys. This has taken between 15 and 17 days of flying, ignoring rest days to account for duty time restrictions for pilots.