National Plan of Action – Seabirds 2020: Implementation Plan (September 2022).

The National Plan of Action – Seabirds 2020: Implementation Plan (September 2022) outlines a five year implementation Plan of the National Plan of Action – Seabirds 2020 (NPOA 2020). Activities include Governance and management actions to: 1) Avoiding Bycatch (Effective bycatch mitigation practices are implemented in New Zealand Fisheries, and Practices that effectively avoid risk of seabird bycatch are supported and promoted to non-commercial fishers); 2) Healthy Seabird Populations - Direct effects of New Zealand fishing do not threaten seabird populations or their recovery (Research, monitoring and management actions are prioritised for seabird populations of particular concern and their risk ratios reduce); 3) Research and Information - Further information to effectively manage direct fisheries effects on seabirds is continuously improved (Research is undertaken to improve bycatch mitigation across sectors, especially where there are high bycatch rates and no known effective mitigation; Monitoring programmes for New Zealand commercial fisheries are designed and implemented to provide statistically robust information to assess progress towards the NPOA Seabirds 2020’s objectives; Observation and monitoring methods are researched, developed, and implemented across all sectors; A research programme provides information to reduce uncertainty in estimates of risk to seabirds from fishing across all sectors); 4) International Engagement - New Zealand actively engages internationally to promote measures and practices that reduce impacts on New Zealand seabirds (The risk to New Zealand seabirds from fisheries outside the New Zealand EEZ is assessed and communicated to international organisations, governments and other stakeholders; New Zealand advocates for the development, adoption, improvement, and uptake of seabird conservation measures; New Zealand actively works bilaterally, multi-laterally, and with international organisations to build capacity to reduce the risk to New Zealand seabirds).