Black Petrel Captures Reported

Friday, 5 March 2021, 4:10 pm
Press Release: Seafood New Zealand

A small family fishing company has self-reported the capture of 18 endangered black petrels and two flesh-footed shearwaters over a six-day period in the past week.

Each time a capture occurred, the vessel moved its fishing over 30 kilometres in an attempt to avoid the birds.

The owners of the company and the skipper of the vessel are devastated about the captures, which happened while longlining with full mitigation deployed.

The company, crew and skipper are cooperating fully with agencies to understand why such an unusually large number of birds were captured over this period.

A camera was operating on the vessel at the times of the captures and that footage will be examined as a part of establishing what may have been the cause.

This company is actively engaged in seabird conservation and educating others and the incidents have affected them deeply.

There will be no further comment until the details of this incident are understood.

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Seafood New Zealand

Seafood New Zealand’s primarily focus is deepwater and inshore wild capture fisheries, but works closely with other sectors to ensure a thriving and sustainable seafood sector that is valued by New Zealanders and our trading partners.

New Zealand's seafood industry plays a key role in the country's economy, contributing around $2 billion in export earnings and employing more than 16,500 people, who provide New Zealand and the world with high quality, nutritious and great tasting seafood.

The seafood industry is committed to providing high quality careers in local communities through our sustainable and innovative provision of safe seafood.

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