The Live Ocean Foundation helps fund 49 trackers for the ACAP-listed Black Petrel

Black Petrel chick by Maureen Bennetts of ABUN for ACAP, after a photograph by Biz Bell

The Live Ocean Foundation has worked to help conserve the ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni, endemic to just two islands off New Zealand’s North Island  With only around 5000 breeding pairs remaining, the Black Petrel is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most at-risk seabirds, facing threats from fishing bycatch, predation, light pollution and habitat loss.  The project wished to raise funds for 20 GPS trackers to follow fledgling Black Petrels on their first migration and uncover why so few return.  

“This project aims to reverse the decline of the tākoketai black petrel population through tracking their migration, international collaboration, and advocacy.  By supporting long-term research, developing mitigation strategies, and building partnerships across the Pacific Flyway, Live Ocean and its partners aim to rebuild the population to enable future translocation into historic habitats.”

Biz Bell of Wildlife Management International writes “The ultimate goal is to chart a course for recovery and protection of this on the brink species, so that we might see their return to some former nesting sites right around the North Island.”

By the end of December, thanks to 100+ donors and matched funding from the BNZ Foundation, funding for over 49 GPS trackers for Black Petrels had been secured.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 06 January 2026 (updated)