There have been great strides taken by the seafood industry over the past couple of decades in protecting the rich diversity of seabirds that we share our oceans with.
New Zealand is home for more than one third of the world’s seabird species. The seafood industry takes its responsibility to ensure they survive and prosper seriously.
Over the past 14 years industry has been working with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ministry for Primary Industries ( MPI) and the NGO sector through the Southern Seabird Solutions Trust.
As trust convenor Janice Molloy says, it seems an unlikely coalition of fishing industry leaders, government officials, conservationists, eco-tourism operators, scientists and researchers. Through this disparate grouping there has been a continued collective commitment to improving the conservation status of New Zealand’s seabirds.
A number of measures have been achieved that include workshops for fishers encouraging a “seabird smart” approach to fishing, hosting events with a focus on seabird mitigation and rewarding industry efforts in protecting seabirds.
Industry works with the trust on a wide range of projects around the country. For example, in the north the black petrel/taiko Working Group, that includes Moana (Aotearoa Fisheries), Sanford and Leigh Fisheries, work together to protect this endangered species.
The National Plan of Action (NPOA) - Seabirds 2013 that recognises New Zealand’s unique place in the world for seabirds and the desire to be at the leading edge of international seabird conservation has industry’s full and active support.
A wide-range of industry-led initiatives to prevent seabird capture have been developed including  the requirement for surface long-line fishers to use tori lines (bright streamers to scare the birds away), night fishing, extra weights added to the lines to drop them quickly out of birds’ reach, dyed baits to confuse the birds, baffles to keep them away from warps at the stern of trawlers and careful release of any offal.
Industry has also been involved in trials with on-board cameras to increase monitoring of seabird behaviour and protection. A recent industry collaboration with DOC worked on the improvement of tori line materials and performance on small coastal long-liners.
“Seabird bycatch is a serious issue and I’m delighted at the relationship forged with the seafood industry which shows you’re taking this issue seriously and doing something about it,” DOC Director General Lou Sanson said.
He said it was thanks to funding from the seafood industry through the Conservation Services Programme that new research into six species of vulnerable Chatham Island seabirds would be undertaken this year. That included three species of albatross, northern giant petrel and Pitt Island and Chatham Island shag. 
To ensure its members are well informed about seabird mitigation,  industry also jointly funds, with the DOC and MPI, seabird liaison officers for deep water and coastal fleets.
Fishing vessel owners are constantly looking for innovative ways to prevent catching seabirds while fishing. Late last year, for example, Sealord, as part of its refit of the deep water vessel, Ocean Dawn, fitted a new “bird baffler” to repel birds, and it is working.
All of these measures that have involved considerable investment in time and money over the past decade are paying off. The 2015 Ministry for the Environment Environment Aotearoa report shows the significant progress in reducing seabird capture, estimating mortality had fallen by around 40 per cent since 2002.
Given that commitment, it is doubly disappointing when there is the odd case of a skipper failing to do the right thing. Such incidents are in the minority but they unfairly tar all those in the industry. That is why there is a common feeling that anyone convicted deserves whatever sanctions come their way.
 It would be great to get to the point where we can say there are no seabird deaths as a result of fishing.
Seabirds are our fishers’ ocean companions.
As one young skipper  recently said “there is nothing more beautiful than to see a flock of cape pigeons.”
Others may opt for soaring albatrosses as their favourite but there is no argument our seabirds deserve admiration and protection.

Tim Pankhurst