I sent in another Official Information Act request for images of the reported seabirds caught by commercial fishing in the wider Hauraki Gulf region. It was nice to see that three out of sixteen did not die (in this instance they are usually not photographed). Here are some photos of the dead birds. They are rather miserable to look at, but its great Fisheries New Zealand has shared high resolution images.
Antipodean albatross 1 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Antipodean albatross 2 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Antipodean albatross 3 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Antipodean albatross 4 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Antipodean albatross 5 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Black petrel 1 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Black petrel 2 – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Flesh-footed shearwater 1 – Caught by bluenose longline fisheries between 2018-19 Flesh-footed shearwater 2 – Caught by snapper longline fisheries between 2018-19 Flesh-footed shearwater 3 – Caught by snapper longline fisheries between 2018-19 Gibsons albatross – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 Southern Buller’s albatross – Caught by bigeye longline fisheries between 2018-19 White-chinned petrel – Caught by southern bluefin longline fisheries between 2018-19
I checked to see if any of the records were reported by fishing boats without observers – the answer was no. This means there are a lot more endangered birds dying that no one knows about.