The native tītī or sooty shearwater is native to New Zealand and classified as at risk/declining. Photo: Wiki Commons
More than 200 seabirds were accidentally caught and killed by a fishing trawler in Te Waewae Bay in Southland earlier this year.
Forest & Bird is demanding more information from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) about the 207 deaths, published in MPI's quarterly bycatch report for January to March.
The birds were adult tītī sooty shearwaters, which are native to New Zealand and classified as at risk/declining.
Forest & Bird's regional conservation manager for Otago and Southland Chelsea McGaw said the birds were likely to have been foraging at sea to feed their chicks, which likely starved to death.
"The scale of bycatch is unacceptable and right now, it's failing our wildlife," she said.
"It is a sobering thought that catches like this are not illegal, as long as they are reported."
In a statement, MPI said the vessel, which caught the shearwaters, was operating an onboard camera, and the footage was reviewed by Fisheries New Zealand.
MPI said the vessel was also using mitigation measures, including 'batch waste disposal' - a means of discharging waste in a way that is designed to reduce seabird numbers behind trawls.
Seafood New Zealand Inshore Manager Tiff Bock said that the incident had a "serious impact" on the fisher who was upset about what happened.
"The fisher was doing everything he was supposed to be doing in terms of location and procedures to avoid bird interactions. The muttonbirds congregated around the vessel en masse after the fishing gear was in the water, leaving him with nothing he could practically do," she said.
She said the organisation found itself agreeing with Forest & Bird that the one-off capture event was devastating.
After the incident Seafood New Zealand had issued a fleetwide notification advising all local commercial fishers of the area of the incident, and to avoid vicinity of the capture.
Bock said it has also organised an event to get all the local fishers together to discuss the latest thinking on protecting seabirds and mammals.
They group agreed to a range of measures including avoiding some areas.
"We acknowledge the reality that sometimes, despite everyone's best efforts, bad things can happen. In this case, unfortunately the event was unforeseeable," Bock said.
"Fortunately, an event like this is incredibly rare. Seafood New Zealand has two dedicated staff members working alongside fishers to avoid impacts to protected species. They can tell you that the vast majority of commercial fishing efforts involve no interaction with any type of protected species."
The latest data from MPI showed that 98 percent of fishing events - meaning every time a commercial net or line or other device was put in the water - involved no interaction with a protected marine mammal or bird, she said.
Fisheries New Zealand Director Fisheries Management Emma Taylor said the total population of sooty shearwaters was estimated to be about 21 million birds.
"No fisher wants to catch seabirds, but it is not illegal to accidentally catch them. The fisher took the steps required following the capture and reported the incident to Fisheries New Zealand and notified a Department of Conservation protected species liaison officer quickly after the capture," she said.
"Shortly after the capture, we notified and met with commercial fishers in the region about the incident. We provided information about operational measures they could take to reduce the likelihood of further bycatch events in the area, including avoiding the area of the capture, and ensuring appropriate mitigation measures were being used."
Forest & Bird said it wanted to know what the ministry and commercial trawl fisheries were doing to prevent a repeat of similar deaths in future.
However, McGaw said it should be considered a warning sign.
"A trawler that can kill this many tītī in one go could easily wipe out other threatened or at-risk seabirds, like the toroa Antipodean albatross. We need mandatory, enforceable rules that include effective bird scaring devices and fish waste management," she said.
MPI's bycatch quarterly report showed 1083 seabirds and protected marine species accidentally were captured by fishing vessels between January to March. Of those, 771 died.
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