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Seabird Smart Workshops content

At least six seabird-smart fishing workshops will be held around the country in 2012, with the first two held in Auckland and Timaru in February. The content of each workshop will be tailored to the needs of the particular fishing fleet attending, and will typically cover information on local seabirds, the latest developments in seabird-smart fishing practices, how to care for seabirds if they are caught, and the benefits for the fishing industry of being seabird-smart.

Fishers at Auckland workshop
Fishers at the Auckland workshop - Sam Hayes, Rimi Hawkins-Attwood and Owen Linwood. Photo: Grant Southam.
What we cover in the workshops
The above booklet is also available in hard copy. Please contact us by email if you would like to order one.
The workshops are interactive, and participants get plenty of time to talk about their experiences with seabirds and mitigation. The day includes a fascinating presentation from Cam Speedy who paints a picture of what New Zealand used to be like before the billions of seabirds that bred on our coastal and inland ranges disappeared. Cam also describes the special life of a seabird, and helps participants understand why they are so vulnerable. Participants discuss the benefits of building a Seabird Smart fishing culture in New Zealand, and then get down to the detail of fishing practices and mitigation devices.

Each skipper is presented with a laminated certificate that describes the new or existing mitigation measures they have agreed to use, and we hope these will be proudly displayed on the wheel-house wall. Each participant also gets a pack of information to take home to share with the family, including our new booklet about seabirds and fishing, and stickers for their vessels and vehicles.

We will maintain contact with the skippers and crew who attended the workshops and provide ongoing encouragement and support. Promising new mitigation ideas that flow from the workshops will feed into the Trust's Mitigation Mentor Programme for assessment and potentially for development.

Workshop booklet - New Zealand Seabirds, Long Haul Fishing Experts (low res) 2.1MB
Beyond the workshops

Retailers and consumers are increasingly interested in the provenance of fish, and the environmental footprint of the fishing method used to catch it. The workshops are an important step towards building a seabird smart reputation for the New Zealand fishing industry. We have another project planned that will look at how fisheries can practically go about getting adequate information to reassure government, the retail chain and other interested parties that vessels are consistently using proven seabird smart fishing practices. We will also be looking at how the Trust can provide benefit to those fisheries or fleets that can prove they are seabird smart through promotion and other means.

This project is sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, the Department of Conservation and Sanford Ltd.