Bird bafflers, warp scarers, hook pods and lumo leads: mitigation measures for seabirds in New Zealand fisheries get reviewed

Graham Parker (Parker Conservation, Dunedin, New Zealand) has produced a report for the Southern Seabird Solutions Trust (SSST) that reviews mitigation measures for seabirds in New Zealand fisheries. The report’s introduction states:

“The scope of this report includes mitigation measures (device or fishing practice) that have potential application in New Zealand commercial long-line, trawl or set net fisheries. For completeness, mitigation measures already in use in New Zealand fisheries are included. The multi-lateral Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), of which NZ is a signatory, has provided a set of criteria that defines best practice mitigation to reduce or eliminate the incidental mortality of seabirds in commercial fisheries. This report assesses the extent to which each mitigation measure has been developed and tested against the ACAP criteria.”

SSST describes the report:

“Bird bafflers, warp scarers, hook pods and lumo leads. This stocktake covers all these weird and wonderful inventions, designed to keep seabirds safe from harm around fishing vessels. Our new report describes these inventions and all other measures that are suited to the types of commercial fishing carried out in New Zealand. We assess the extent to which each measure has been developed and tested, and hurdles that might need to be overcome for the measure to be used more widely. This work was undertaken by Graham Parker of Parker Conservation, and generously funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Sealord Group, Deepwater Group and WWF-NZ.”

 

Chatham Albatross - endemic as a breeding species to New Zealand, photograph by Brent Stephenson

Reference:

Parker, G.C. 2017. Stocktake of Measures for mitigating the incidental Capture of seabirds in New Zealand Commercial Fisheries. Report to Southern Seabird Solutions Trust. Dunedin: Parker Conservation. 102 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 August 2017

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

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