New Zealand Fisheries Minister, Jim Anderton, has announced a suite of measures to protect seabirds from being accidentally caught when commercial vessels are fishing.
These are measures that will be put in place while longer term solutions to the problem of seabird bycatch in commercial fisheries are developed.
The measures that will be put in place will require longliners and trawlers to take steps to help avoid catching seabirds.
All deepwater trawlers are currently required to use devices behind their boats that will scare birds away from the heavy trawl cable - this will continue. All trawlers, both inshore and offshore, will only be allowed to discharge offal and fish trimmings at certain times when there is less chance of birds becoming distracted by feeding on the offal and being hit by the cables.
All longliners will be required to use streamer lines that scare birds away from the baited hooks. They will also have to either weight their lines so they sink quickly, or set lines only at night so there is less chance of birds diving for the bait and becoming hooked.
In addition, longliners that process their catch at sea will only be allowed to discharge offal and fish trimmings at certain times to avoid attracting birds to where baited hooks are being set.
“These are simple measures; proven to be effective in comparable overseas fisheries. They will ensure that there is an effective minimum level of mitigation in place without imposing excessive costs on the industry,” Jim Anderton said.
“I recognise that this will impose costs on the industry and technical difficulties for some fishers. However, taking no action means ongoing injuries and deaths for significant numbers of seabirds, something I am unwilling to accept.”
The government is currently consulting on an updated National Plan of Action for Seabirds and a draft seabird standard. This will put in place a long-term framework for managing the problem of seabird bycatch that could result in more mandatory mitigation measures being put in place.
