Endangered New Zealand seabird may be under greater threat
Species is 10th most affected by commercial fishing
By Jamie Morton
The range of an endangered New Zealand seabird overlaps with trawl fishing activity more than conservationists previously realised.
The Westland petrel is one of the last few petrel species that remains on the mainland of New Zealand, and inhabits much of the same breeding range on the West Coast of the South Island as it did before humans arrived.
Today, Westland petrels are threatened by a range of predators, and us - the species is the 10th most at-risk species from the impacts of commercial fishing.
In a just-published study, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa’s Susan Waugh and her colleagues outfitted 73 petrels with GPS loggers over the course of four breeding seasons to track where they went during their foraging trips in the Tasman Sea.
Results showed the birds’ core feeding areas were consistent from year to year, located within 250km of their breeding colonies and focused on highly productive areas where the seafloor is steeply sloped.
But these sites often overlapped with areas of significant trawl fishing activity, and the researchers found further study was needed to see whether this translated to birds being accidentally killed.