Ministry of Fisheries Seabird Bycatch

Statutory obligations under the 1996 Fisheries Act require the Ministry of Primary Industries to monitor the bycatch of associated or dependent species during commercial fishing operations in New Zealand waters. The Ministry of Fisheries Observer Programme collects data on the incidental catch of seabirds as part of its monitoring programme. Seabirds, marine mammals, and turtles are caught during commercial fishing operations. In order to monitor the impacts of fishing on these species, government observers on fishing vessels record any protected species bycatch incidents that occur. Observer data on protected species captures are maintained by the Ministry for Primary Industries, with identification of captured animals carried out by the Department of Conservation.

Database of bycatch

Entire Region

Data were extracted for the target trawl and longline fisheries in which incidental captures of nonfish species were recorded by MFish scientific observers during the fishing year 1 October-30 September 2000-01.

See report by Abraham 2016.

Estimation of the numbers of seabirds captured (dead and alive) is limited by the proportion of the fleet's effort that is observed and the number of seabird captures actually observed. There are many target fishery areas for which there are not enough data to adequately estimate incidental captures. This may be a result of inadequate observer coverage or too few observed seabird captures. The fisheries of most concern here are the domestic longline fisheries for tuna species, snapper, and bluenose, which operate in waters known to be frequented by many seabird species.

Detailed description of data in report referenced above.