Mandatory Seabird Mitigation Measures Needed Now - Send a letter to the Minister of Fisheries

The recent killing of 35 albatrosses, including 12 critically endangered Chatham albatrosses, demonstrates the need for urgent action to stop seabird bycatch in New Zealand fisheries. (See Media Release and Feature Article)

New regulations for seabird mitigation measures are being developed by the New Zealand Government and you can make a submission on these before 23rd November 2007.

Forest & Bird supports the Minister of Fisheries' intention to put tougher measures in place and has prepared a letter (PDF) with recommendations that can be posted or emailed to Hon Jim Anderton, Minister of Fisheries, Parliament, Wellington, New Zealand, jim.anderton@parliament.govt.nz

Annually, several thousand seabirds are killed in New Zealand fisheries, many of them species threatened with extinction. In other international fisheries seabird by-catch has been reduced by 90% in only one year where multiple effective mitigation measures are used.

Forest & Bird is urging the Minister to rapidly move away from the voluntary framework for managing seabird bycatch currently in place in New Zealand. We recommend that regulations for mandatory measures should be a requirement for all fishing methods that kill seabirds. These are mainly longline, trawl and set net (gill net) fishing.

Chatham albatross - Graham Robertson

This page was updated on 2 November, 2007