Analysis of Marine Mammal Bycatch Data and Mitigation Strategies in New Zealand

The Marine Mammal Risk Assessment included 35 species of marine mammals that inhabit New Zealand waters.

Five of these species are classified under the New Zealand Threat Classification System as Not Threatened, two as At Risk, Naturally Uncommon, one as At Risk-Recovering, two as Nationally Vulnerable, one as Nationally Endangered and four as Nationally Critical, with the remaining species classified as Data Deficient as not enough information exists to properly determine their threat status.Not all marine mammals have been observed interacting with commercial fisheries in New Zealand.

Most beaked whales and large whales (except for Humpback whales) have a relatively low incidence of being bycaught. While prior work has been conducted for specific fisheries, (e.g. MIT2012-03), there is a need for holistic analyses of the overall nature of marine mammal interactions. This project will support the work being done through the International Whaling Commission�s Bycatch Mitigation Initiative.

This project seeks to analyse long-term bycatch data to identify changes in marine mammal interactions over time and if there is reasoning behind these. Analysis could also include, but is not limited to, identifying if any temporal/spatial/seasonal patterns are apparent and exploring these more comprehensively.

This project will also examine the development of method and species-specific mitigation options for each protected marine mammal species known to interact with commercial fisheries and will also investigate if anecdotal information exists in relation to ways to avoid or reduce marine mammal interactions.