New Zealand’s biggest iwi-owned fisheries company, Aotearoa Fisheries LTD, has signed a pledge with Southern Seabird Solution Trust and is adding a clause to fishers’ contract that will require them to ndertaking Seabird Smart training to help boost the population of the vulnerable black petrel sea bird.
There are only 2,500 breeding pairs of black petrels left in New Zealand. The bird only nest on Great Barrier Island and Little Barrier Island but can fly as far as the Galapagos Islands, Southern Mexico and Northern Peru.
In the past birds have been most threatened by feral cats and other predators on the islands, but they are also at risk from commercial longline and recreational fishers because they scavenge around the boats.
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