May 27, 2020
Voluntary effort call for seabird safety
Pressure is going on the fishing industry to stop killing seabirds.
Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say a new national plan of action calls for fishing interests to develop new bycatch mitigation practices and improve practices already in use.
These include bird-scaring lines, weighted longlines, fishing at night, avoiding areas important to seabirds, and reducing discharge that attracts birds to fishing boats.
It requires all fishing vessels at risk of accidentally catching seabirds to create risk management plans for protected species, which will be audited and regularly monitored against government standards.
Ms Sage says Aotearoa/New Zealand is a global hotspot for seabirds, including albatross and petrel species that fly thousands of kilometres across the world’s oceans, and fisheries bycatch is one of the biggest threats many of them face.
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