Classified for Harvest for Human Consumption in Accordance with Regulation 48 of the Animal Products (Regulated Control Scheme – Bivalve Molluscan Shellfish) Regulations 2006

Goal: Improving the confidence in the effectiveness of the nitrification inhibitor DCD as a novel nitrous oxide mitigation technology in a wider range of key dairying soils and as affected by rainfall or irrigation.

This project estimated survival of six pelagic species (southern bluefin tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna, swordfish, blue shark, mako shark, and porbeagle shark) following release from commercial fishing gear to inform a government review of their landing exceptions.

Fishery characterisations revealed that the main fishing gears responsible for discarded fish were surface longline (all species) and trawl (swordfish, mako, and porbeagle).

Literature reviews were conducted to document current knowledge on the status of an individual when brought to the vessel and ‘post-release’ survival (i.e., survival in the weeks to months following release) from these methods, as well as the factors that affect survival of each species. The key results were:

Bluefin tunas (including southern bluefin tuna and Pacific bluefin tuna) and swordfish typically have high post-release survival following capture by surface longline, with most studies reporting survival rates of 88% or greater for bluefin tunas and 50–88% for swordfish.
Blue shark have high at-vessel and post-release survival following capture by surface longline, with most studies reporting at-vessel and post-release survival rates of > 80%.

Mako have moderate to high at-vessel and post-release survival following capture by surface longline, with most studies reporting at-vessel and post-release survival rates ranging from about 50–87% and 56–94%, respectively.
Porbeagle have moderate to high at-vessel survival and variable post-release survival following capture by surface longline, with estimates of 56–79% and 25–90% for at-vessel and post-release survival, respectively.
There have been no comparable studies documenting at-vessel or post-release survival of swordfish, mako, or porbeagle from trawl.

A questionnaire was developed and circulated to fishers, fishery observers, and scientists with knowledge of each species to obtain their estimates of at-release survival (i.e., the probability the fish/shark was alive when put back into water), post-release survival, and combined survival (the probability an individual was both alive at release and survived following release) of the three shark species, and post-release survival of the thee fish species (in accordance with their current landing exceptions).

Questionnaire responses were used to derive survival probability range estimates for each species, with separate analyses conducted that included and excluded information from the literature.

For individuals released after capture by surface longline, the results of this analysis indicated post-release survival for southern bluefin tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna, and swordfish is likely to be high; blue shark are likely to have high at-release and post-release survival, and a medium-high combined survival; mako are likely to have medium at-release and medium-high post-release survival (reduced to medium if excluding information from the literature in the analysis), and low-medium combined survival; and porbeagle are likely to have low at-release survival, low-medium post-release survival, and low combined survival.

Post-release survival of swordfish released from trawl gear was likely to be low, and mako and porbeagle caught by trawl were likely to have low at-release, post-release, and combined survival.

These results, however, resulted from a small number of survey responses (only one respondent for trawl gear) and often without any comparable supporting published studies.

Survival estimates presented here should thus be interpreted with caution.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Database (YEPDB), containing monitoring, marking, post-mortem, and captivity data for yellow-eyed penguins in New Zealand from 1971 to 2022, was groomed following a 5-step scripted and manual cleaning workflow. Original records, often in paper form, were digitally archived in a Microsoft SharePoint Data Management System (DMS), along with the cleaned tables, master lists, ancillary tables, database metadata, and 29 lookup tables.

Freshwater pests, including Didymo, could squeeze the life out of our country’s most precious rivers and lakes. They can be spread by a single drop of water or plant fragment. You can help to protect your favourite waterways if you always CHECK, CLEAN, DRY any equipment that comes into contact with the water, between every waterway, every time.

This leaflet provides an overview of sustainable indigenous forest management in New Zealand and gives landowners options for harvesting and milling timber from indigenous forests.

Part 3A of the Forests Act 1949 promotes the long-term sustainability of privately owned indigenous forest through Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Plans and Permits. This leaflet outlines the provisions that allow for Milling Certificates or Personal Use Approvals to harvest and mill indigenous timber in one-off situations from areas not subject to registered SFM Plans or Permits.