Seabirds and protected marine species caught by commercial fishers

Quarterly update for April to June 2024

The seafood sector provides an important source of revenue, jobs, and opportunities to New Zealand with export revenue forecast to increase 5% to $2.2 billion in the year to 30 June 2024.

Overall, the latest information shows fisheries remain in good shape. Fisheries New Zealand is committed to supporting sustainable fishing so that all fishers, commercial, recreational, and customary continue to benefit from the sea for generations to come.

Fish stock status

To that end, Fisheries New Zealand collects a range of data to support decision-making for sustainable fisheries and minimise the effect of fishing on other wildlife.

Over the quarter from April 1 to June 30 there were 34,841 reported fishing events and 65,910 tonnes of fish landed.

A fishing event is described as each time fishing gear is set and retrieved.
Fish landed is described as all fish reported as caught and required to be reported on a monthly harvest return.

Catch data – Q3 2023-24 October fishing year [XLSX, 47 KB]

Of these events, 1.9% involved interactions with protected species. These interactions include animals making any contact with fishing gear, including those released unharmed. They include reporting from vessels with cameras on board and are broadly in line with scientific estimates that we use to assess fisheries risk to protected species populations.

Fishers work hard to reduce these captures and there are a range of voluntary and regulated mitigations in place. Fisheries New Zealand works with the Department of Conservation to manage the range of threats to protected species, including those posed by fishing.

We have plans in place to understand and manage threats to protected marine species, including Hector’s and Māui dolphins, sea lions and seabirds. These plans include evidence-based approaches to dealing with fishing incidents ranging from education at the lower end of the spectrum to fishing restrictions and closures where necessary.

Fisheries New Zealand releases quarterly information reported by commercial fishers about accidental catches of marine mammals, seabirds, reptiles, protected fish, and corals, sponges, and bryozoans.

Non-fish and Protected Species caught by commercial fishers [XLSX, 296 KB]

Detailed here are some key data on accidental captures for the April to June quarter.

Key data on accidental captures

Seabirds

New rules that will significantly reduce the risk of seabirds being caught in the surface longline fishery came into effect on 1 October 2024. These require all commercial fishers using surface longline fishing methods to either use special hook shielding devices or implement all 3 seabird mitigations at the same time.

These mitigations include:

using bird scaring devices called ‘tori lines’
using weighted lines to sink hooks faster
setting gear at night.

These measures are targeted to reduce the number of albatross captured.

There were 65 albatross reported captured across the surface longline fleet in the April to June quarter, some of which were released unharmed. This was a significant reduction from the previous quarter and in part reflects the seasonal nature of the fishery. Implementation of a Code of Practice by the surface longline fleet fishing on the East Coast of the South Island, and targeted engagement with this fleet following an escalation of captures in February, will also have contributed towards this decrease. Fisheries New Zealand expects further reductions of accidental seabird capture in this fishery as an ongoing effect of the rule changes.

In addition, Fisheries New Zealand recognises that albatross routinely fly across country borders, so an international effort is required to ensure their protection. We continue to work with governments in the South Pacific and Southern Ocean to ensure an evidence-based approach to conservation.

Dolphins

Hector’s and Māui dolphins face a variety of threats, including from fishing, which are managed by Fisheries New Zealand and the Department of Conservation (DOC). Together, we are responsible for the Threat Management Plan (TMP) for Hector’s and Maui dolphins.

Protecting Hector's and Māui dolphins

To manage threats from fishing, a Bycatch Reduction Plan is in place for South Island Hector’s dolphins. The plan sets out a suite of regulatory and voluntary measures designed to help fishers reduce the accidental capture of Hector’s dolphins towards zero.

Bycatch Reduction Plan [PDF, 7.2 MB]

There were 4 reported Hector’s dolphin captures this quarter, which is in line with estimates. The dolphins were caught over 4 fishing events:

2 off Timaru
1 off Banks Peninsula
1 in the Cloudy/Clifford bays area.

Capture thresholds, called Fishing-Related Mortality Limits (FRMLs), trigger a range of actions depending on the effect of the capture on the dolphin population. Onboard camera footage review has enabled direct engagement with fishers about practices to support improvements and avoid captures. During the quarter, captures equated to 25% to 50% of the Timaru and Banks Peninsula regional FRMLs and less than 25% of the Cloudy Clifford FRML.

In line with the Bycatch Reduction Plan, a vessel-based response was implemented for each capture event during the quarter. This involved:

requesting an immediate ‘move-on’ by the vessel, vacating the vicinity of the capture (‘move-on rule’)
direct engagement between Fisheries New Zealand, the Department of Conservation protected species liaison officer and the fisher to review and better understand the circumstances surrounding each capture
confirmation that the vessel was operating in accordance with fisheries regulations designed to reduce the risk of protected species captures
review of onboard camera footage associated with each capture event.

Area-based responses were also adopted this quarter, in line with the Bycatch Reduction Plan. These included regional meetings with commercial fishers and industry representatives to share information on Hector’s dolphin captures, as well as identifying and implementing fleetwide mitigation measures to reduce the likelihood of further captures.

Fur seals

New Zealand fur seals are the most common seals in New Zealand and their population is growing. They are classified as ‘Not Threatened’ by the Department of Conservation, and there is evidence of northward expansion of the distribution of breeding colonies. The increase in captures is not considered to pose a threat to the New Zealand fur seal population on a national scale.

There were 137 reported captures of New Zealand fur seals this quarter compared to the 45 reported in the previous quarter. This increase has particularly been seen in FMA5 on the south coast of the South Island and reflects seasonal fishing effort in the squid fishery.

More captures have also been recorded in the surface longline (SLL) southern bluefin tuna fishery. In SLL, the majority of fur seals are reported as released alive.

Having cameras in place in the surface longline and southern bluefin tuna fisheries has likely contributed to increased reporting of captures.

Fisheries New Zealand will continue to monitor fishing’s effect on fur seals and has an active research project to analyse the risk to these animals from different commercial fisheries. This information will be used to assess possible mitigation techniques.

Fisheries observers also collect data on protected species captures. Historical data is available from the Protected species by-catch website.

Protected species bycatch in New Zealand fisheries

Commercial fishing monitored by fisheries observers

On-board cameras are now live on some commercial fishing vessels

Experience overseas and in New Zealand is that monitoring of fishing by observers or cameras generally leads to more accurate reporting. Accurate data enables a more transparent and responsive fisheries management system and supports better understanding of the health of our marine ecosystems.

Footage reviewed is based on random selection within a risk-based approach, with higher review rates in fisheries with higher risk of at-risk protected species interaction.

Future research will use data from cameras to update risk and capture estimates to ensure these are based on the best available information.

On-board cameras for commercial fishing vessels

In January 2024, cameras were rolled out to the Surface Longline Fleet. There were 146 vessels equipped with on-board cameras by 30 June 2024.

Almost 40% of footage collected from vessels was reviewed this quarter. This is high by international standards, reflecting the overlap with the areas identified in the Threat Management Plan for Hector’s and Māui dolphins and other protected species.

The vast majority of protected species captures are being consistently reported by fishers, with 98% of reviewed protected species interactions also reported by fishers this quarter.

There has been increased reporting of protected species in the fisheries where cameras are operating, which aligns with international experience. The levels of protected species captures being reported are in line with our estimates.

Metric	01 April to 30 June 2024
Number of vessels with cameras	146
Number of fishing events for which footage was captured*	6,291
Number of events reviewed by MPI	2,708
Percentage of events reviewed by MPI	39%
Percentage of reviewer detected protected species interactions that were also reported by fishers	98%

* A fishing event is defined as each time a net or longline is set and retrieved. There are a variety of reasons why footage may not be captured for a given event, such as technical failures of the camera system.

This data can be subject to reporting errors

The data in these quarterly reports has been provided by fishers via the electronic reporting system. Where protected species reporting errors are identified through review of footage, we work with fishers to update the data.