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New measures will cut seabird deaths
21 February 2008 - Wellington
Forest & Bird media
release for immediate use
New measures will cut seabird deaths
New measures announced today will significantly reduce the number of seabirds killed in New Zealand fisheries, Forest & Bird says.
Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says he is delighted by the set of measures announced by Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton to reduce by-catch of vulnerable seabirds in New Zealand fisheries.
He says the measures put in place a comprehensive minimum set of requirements for all trawl and longline fisheries which bring them closer to best practice used in fisheries internationally.
“The measures are those considered to be most effective in a worldwide review of mitigation conducted by BirdLife International and Forest & Bird. The introduction of these measures will lead to significant reductions in fishing mortalities of vulnerable seabird species.”
In addition to measures which deter birds from seizing fishing baits and getting caught in fishing nets, the measures also address one of the key causes of seabird mortality – attraction of birds to fishing vessels to feed on the discharge of fisheries waste. The measures make an important step in requiring fisheries to limit waste discharge during parts of the fishing operation that are dangerous for seabirds.
The measures were likely to carry relatively few financial implications for the great number of the responsible fishers who are already using these practices, Kevin Hackwell says.
“By implementing a comprehensive set of regulations, the Minister is creating the ability to enforce these good practices across the entire fishing fleet, and requiring poor fishers to improve their environmental practice.”
The most important step not covered by the new measures is the introduction of much higher levels of monitoring of by-catch and meaningful penalties for those fishers who don’t comply with regulations. While Forest & Bird applauds the important steps taken in today’s announcements, it encourages the Minister to also consider these further steps in future.
Background
It is
estimated that between 2000 and 10,000 seabirds are killed
annually in New Zealand trawl and longline fisheries, of
which around 900-1500 are albatrosses, mainly killed in
trawl fisheries.
Scientific observers recorded 31 species
of seabird caught in trawl and longline fishing from
1998-2004. Eighteen of these species are listed as
threatened with extinction.
Albatrosses are the most
threatened family of birds in the world, according to the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (see
www.iucnredlist.org).
Albatrosses are the key species
caught as by-catch in New Zealand deepwater trawl fisheries
for squid and hoki, with around half of the by-catch in
these fisheries being albatrosses.
More than half of the
world’s albatrosses are found in New Zealand, and all of
those breeding in New Zealand waters are listed as
threatened.
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