New marine protection sites within the Hauraki Gulf

The Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill, recently accepted by the New Zealand Government, aims at protecting and restoring the marine environment of the gulf situated off Auckland on North Island.  A network of 19 new marine protection sites within the gulf includes two new marine reserves and 12 “high protection areas” (HPAs) to protect and restore marine habitats and ecosystems.

Two islands towards the outer edge of the Hauraki Gulf, Great Barrier and Little Barrier, between them support the global population of the Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni.  According to the Department of Conservation’s map (see above), a relatively large HPA abuts the north shore of the 3083-ha Little Barrier Island Nature Reserve, New Zealand’s first nature reserve, established in 1895.  The island is now introduced predator free, following the removal of 151 feral cats Felis catus from 1977 to 1980 and of Pacific Rats or Kiore Rattus exulans in 2004.  Click here to access the 2017 management plan for Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier.

A Black Petrel at sea off North Cape, New Zealand, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

The Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Act will come into force on 25 October 2025.

Read more details on the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 October 2025

 White-chinned Petrel by Helen Worthington of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for World Albatross Day 2020, watercolour after a photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Daphne Goldberg (Instituto Albatroz, Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and colleagues have published online in the open access journal Marine Ornithology on a Vulnerable White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis that flew over 10 000 km.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“This study presents the case of a White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis that was tagged as a fledgling in April 2023 in the Kerguelen Islands, southern Indian Ocean, and subsequently rescued on the southeast coast of Brazil in July 2024.  Upon recovery, the petrel displayed symptoms of exhaustion, malnutrition, and anemia, highlighting the substantial energy demands associated with its extensive journey of over 10,000 km.  Rehabilitation efforts were successful, resulting in the bird’s release after a month of intensive care, which involved nutritional support and monitoring of its health parameters.  This case highlights the importance of long-term coastal and marine monitoring programs, which provide valuable data about the health challenges of seabirds, their long-distance movements, and the impacts of human activities on their populations.”

Reference:

Goldberg, D.W., Delord, K., Bezerra, G., Lorenço, J.R., Vieira, B. S.F., Saraiva, L.R., Lesage, C., Barbraud, C., Marques, C.A., Neves, T. & Vanstreels, R.E.T. 2025.  From Kerguelen to Brazil: Insights into the movement and health of a threatened seabird, the White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis.  Marine Ornithology 53: 357-360.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 16 October 2025

 Buller’s Albatross by Shary Page Weckwerth of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for World Albatross Day 2020, after a photograph by Paul Sagar

Peter Frost (Science Support Service, Whanganui, New Zealand) and colleagues have published online in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on an aerial survey of Southern Buller’s Albatrosses Thalassarche b. bulleri on New Zealand’s Solander Islands.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“An aerial photographic survey of the Southern Buller's Albatross Thalassarche bulleri bulleri population breeding on the Solander Islands / Hautere was undertaken on 09 March 2024, mid-way through the birds' incubation period. Overall, 6,761 individuals were counted: 6,215 (92%) on Great Solander and 546 (8%) on Little Solander. Of these, 4,213 were sitting on nests, 368 were partners to sitting birds, 573 were standing near empty nests, and 145 were apparently loafing. The status of the remaining 1,462 individuals (22% of the total) was uncertain. Assuming that their status was in the same proportions to those of the clearly observed birds, 1,164 were judged to be sitting on nests, giving an overall estimate of 5,377 occupied nests. This is 4% fewer birds at nests than recorded during the last survey in 2016, when 5,620 apparently breeding pairs were reported in a combined aerial survey and ground count of sitting birds. During the 2024 survey, a check of 54 occupied nests along seven short non-random transects found only 33 nests (62%) contained eggs. The remainder (21 nests, 38%) comprised birds sitting on empty nests. The status of these latter birds is unclear. They could be pre-breeders occupying sites prior to nesting for the first time; recent failed breeders that have not yet abandoned their nest; or established breeders forgoing breeding for some reason but still occupying their nest site. Overall, the numbers of apparently occupied nests suggest a decline in the number of nesting Southern Buller's Albatross since 2016. This conclusion is tentative, however, given the many uncertainties surrounding counts and their interpretation.

Reference:

Frost, P.G.H., Baker, G.B., Fischer, J.H., & Sagar, P.M. 2025.  Population survey of Southern Buller’s Albatross Thalassarche bulleri bulleri on the Solander Islands / Hautere, March 2024.  Marine Ornithology 53: 361-371.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 15 October 2025

 A well-lit Kaikoura dairy farm as cows wait to be milked before dawn

What seems to be a previously unidentified threat has been reported for the globally Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni, a species endemic to the Kaikoura region of New Zealand’s South Island.  The following text and photographs have been edited from a Facebook post by the Kaikoura Wildlife Hospital.

“This rare nocturnal seabird is disorientated by artificial lighting (streetlights, residential and commercial lighting) along the flight path from the sea to the only two remaining mountain colonies, resulting in crash landing.  Upon nightfall shearwaters fly inland to the Seaward Kaikōura Range and make their way to sea at dawn.

External lighting at milking sheds at dawn results in hundreds of shearwaters crash landing each breeding season, if not thousands.  Most go unnoticed or unreported.  There is also an assumption that being a bird, they will take off again.  Hundreds of shearwaters have been documented circling over milking sheds due to disorientation, with up to 40 shearwaters crash landing at a time.  Once grounded shearwaters are unable to take off without a thermal updraft and require urgent rescue.  Without rescue they succumb to crash landing injuries, cat/dog predation, dehydration, starvation, vehicle strike and cattle trampling.”

A Hutton’s Shearwater rescued from a milking shed where it had been mauled by a cat, causing blindness that required euthanasia

“Capping external lighting, using warm colour temperature light bulbs (amber vs white) and utilising motion sensors where possible, are key to reducing crash landing likelihood at milking sheds.”

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 14 October 2025