Research and Information Resources

Information about seabird interactions with fisheries comes from a variety of sources. Some is collected incidentally - while other information collection is designed to describe the nature and extent of seabird captures in fisheries. 

Many New Zealand commercial fisheries have Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) observer coverage. All commercial fishers are required to provide data about their fishing activities in standardised forms. In combination these data sources can be used to describe the nature and extent of seabird captures in fisheries. A key step in using this information, and critical to the NPOA-Seabirds 2013, is risk assessment. A database of seabird capture information including associated fishing activity and observer data, is maintained online. It can be used to produce annual fishery-by-fishery or seabird-by-seabird summaries over one or many years. 

MPI and the Department of Conservation contract independent research providers to provide technical reports as required. This research covers seabird interactions with fisheries, population studies and mitigation research. 

International information resources include Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrel (ACAP) species profiles, best practice mitigation guidelines and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List on population status.