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Black Petrel, Mt. Hobson David Boyle (WMIL)

A new government plan to help save New Zealand’s seabirds has been welcomed as a positive first step that will now need to be translated into “on the water gains” by global conservation organisation WWF.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy launched the National Plan of Action today. The policy is a high-level framework setting out objectives for the next five years aimed at reducing seabird bycatch within the fishing industry.

WWF-New Zealand’s marine programme manager Rebecca Bird said: “We welcome the fact that after many years of discussions, the government now has approved a national plan for tackling the serious problem of seabirds dying in fishing gear in our waters. This is a good first step that will need to be implemented effectively by officials and industry to achieve real on the water gains for our vulnerable and threatened seabirds.”

New Zealand is renowned as a seabird ‘hotspot’ globally. Nearly half of the world’s 22 albatross species breed here. Eighty-six seabirds, about a quarter of the world’s species, breed in the New Zealand region, of which almost half breed nowhere else.  Another 9 species breed elsewhere but visit New Zealand seas to forage each year.

The greatest threat to the survival of many of these species is being caught in commercial fishing operations.

Ms Bird said: “We are pleased a specific action plan has been announced today for black petrels. Found only in New Zealand, these birds were wiped out from the mainland in the 1950s and today their main colony is Great Barrier Island. Government research shows the black petrel is the most at risk seabird in New Zealand from commercial fishing, with an estimated 725 to 1524 birds killed each year from 2003 to 2009.” (1)

“The development and implementation of specific plans for our most at risk seabirds, such as black petrels and flesh-footed shearwaters, will be crucial to the success of this new framework.”

WWF-New Zealand was part of a multi-stakeholder group comprised of conservation groups, fishing industry and MPI and DOC representatives and independently convened by Bill Mansfield, chair of Southern Seabirds Solutions Trust, that help developed this National Plan of Action. The plan is part of New Zealand’s international responsibility under the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels (ACAP) to protect albatross and petrels and manage and mitigate threats from fishing.

Tags: birds