26 January 2007 - Wellington

Forest & Bird media release for immediate use

Restrictions good news for seabirds

Seabirds will benefit from the new restrictions announced today on the use of surface longline fishing according to Forest & Bird.

The restrictions were announced today by Minister of Fisheries Jim Anderton following several incidents last year where boats longlining for tuna and swordfish near the Kermadec Islands caught large numbers of seabirds, particularly the threatened Antipodean wandering albatross*.

“We are pleased that as an initial measure all surface longlining within the New Zealand EEZ will now be confined to night setting and that all vessels must use approved bird scaring devices (tori lines),” said Forest and Bird Conservation Advocate, Kirstie Knowles.

“Voluntary measures and management of seabird bycatch through Codes of Practice have proved to be ineffective in many New Zealand fisheries,” Ms Knowles said.

“The Minister has been advised that many of the vessels involved in surface longlining have a history of non-compliance with rules and regulations. We hope that the Ministry will put observers aboard all the vessels.”

“While these measures are a good first step to address the issue of seabird bycatch we hope that satisfactory longer term solutions will be found not just for seabirds, but also for sharks and turtles which are caught as significant bycatch by this method of fishing,” Ms Knowles said.

Notes

*The Antipodean albatross (Diomedea antipodensis) is endemic to New Zealand and forms part of the wandering albatross complex, all of which are threatened species.

This species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Red List of Species Threatened with Extinction, which means the species is considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. Antipodean albatross are largely confined to three small subantarctic islands when breeding and appear to have undergone a rapid decline, which, if confirmed, will result in a reclassification of Endangered or Critically Endangered. Two of the other wandering albatrosses are already in these categories.

ENDS

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