Along with sea lions, fur seals, and dolphins, seabirds are the protected species most directly affected by fisheries in New Zealand waters (exclusive economic zone and territorial sea). Estimating seabird deaths from bycatch in commercial fishing is one way of assessing the pressure some seabird species face from current fishing practices. About one-third of our 92 resident seabird species and subspecies are considered to be threatened with extinction.
The fishing-related mortality category is derived from a semi-quantitative risk assessment conducted by Richard and Abraham (2015). We are using the threat rating assigned by Richard and Abraham (2015) for Our Marine Environment 2016. The Environment Aotearoa 2015 report used the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) risk rating. This results in a change to risk rating for one threatened species, which has a medium rating in the report but a high rating from MPI. This species is the Stewart Island shag, Leucocarbo chalconotus.
