National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020
Have your say
Fisheries New Zealand and the Department of Conservation have reviewed the National Plan of Action for Seabirds (NPOA) 2013 and would like your views on the revised National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020.
We’ve taken advice from the Seabird Advisory Group, which has representatives from government agencies, environmental groups, commercial and recreational fishers, and Te Ohu Kaimoana.
Consultation begins on 19 November 2019 and closes on 27 January 2020.
Background information about the NPOA-Seabirds
New Zealand has more species of seabirds than anywhere else in the world. They are a key component of our marine environment and we want to ensure we look after them.
Seabirds face a wide range of threats, including interactions with fisheries. The New Zealand Government’s commitment to reducing interactions with fisheries is set out in a National Plan of Action for Seabirds (NPOA –Seabirds).
New Zealand issued its first NPOA – Seabirds in 2004, with a second iteration issued in 2013.
The draft NPOA – Seabirds 2020 builds on previous iterations. It still sets out what we know about seabirds, how they can interact with fishing activity, and how we can reduce captures. In this version, we’ve tried to make sure that the goals and objectives are achievable, measurable, and clear and easily understood. We’ve also tried to simplify how we monitor progress towards achieving the objectives.
The focus of the draft NPOA – Seabirds 2020 is on education and ensuring that all fishers, commercial, recreational, and customary, take all practicable steps to minimise the risk to seabirds. The key components of the draft 2020 action plan are the vision, goals, objectives, and performance measures.
Consultation document
Draft National Plan of Action (NPOA) – Seabirds 2020 [PDF, 1.2 MB]
Related documents
Although we’re only consulting on the draft NPOA-Seabirds 2020, we’ve released a package of documents that accompany and should be read with the plan.
Supporting document for NPOA – Seabirds 2020 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
This document provides background to the NPOA-Seabirds 2020. It provides more information on seabird populations, how birds interact with fisheries and the risks they face, and how risks can be mitigated. It also provides more information on the approach to implementing the NPOA – Seabirds 2020.
Review of the NPOA Seabirds 2013 [PDF, 2.4 MB]
The review summarises achievements, problems, lessons learnt, and recommendations from the NPOA 2013.
Implementation plan [PDF, 1.8 MB]
This Implementation Plan sets out the work that will be undertaken during the next 5 years that contributes to achieving the objectives. This implementation plan will be updated annually.
Mitigation Standards
Mitigation Standards relate to specific commercial fishing methods and set out what is required of effective mitigation practices for those methods. In conjunction with the Seabird Advisory Group, we’ve written 6 Mitigation Standards. A draft version of a seventh Mitigation Standard (for set netting) has also been written. We’ve made it available but we intend to review it within the next 12 months. The standards relate to:
- Trawl vessels greater than 28 metres in length [PDF, 891 KB]
- Trawl vessels less than 28 metres in length [PDF, 747 KB]
- Scampi trawl vessels less than 28 metres in length [PDF, 890 KB]
- Surface longline vessels [PDF, 632 KB]
- Autoline bottom longline vessels [PDF, 703 KB]
- Hand-baiting bottom longline vessels [PDF, 777 KB]
- Draft for set netting [PDF, 377 KB]
Questions and answers
FAQ document [PDF, 78 KB]
Making your submission
Send us your feedback by 5pm on Monday, 27 January 2020.
You can complete an online submission or email or post us your comments.
Online
Complete the submission form – SurveyMonkey
Post
NPOA-Seabirds 2020 consultation
Fisheries Management
Fisheries New Zealand
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140.
What to include
Make sure you tell us in your submission:
- the title of the consultation document
- your name and title
- your organisation's name (if you are submitting on behalf of an organisation, and whether your submission represents the whole organisation or a section of it)
- your contact details (such as phone number, address, and email).
Questions to help you make your submission
If you're not making an online submission, use the questions in this table to help you give us your feedback.
Component of NPOA |
Question / prompt |
---|---|
Vision |
Do you support the vision? |
Goals |
Do you support the goals? |
Do you think there should be any additional goals? |
|
Objectives |
Do you support the objectives? |
|
Do you think additional objectives are necessary to achieve the goals? |
Performance measures |
Are there performance measures you consider are not clear and measurable? |
|
Where a performance measure includes a target, do you consider the target appropriate? |
|
Are there additional performance measures you think should be included? |
General |
Do you have any other comments? |
Submissions are public information
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Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.
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