This report describes bycatch of non-protected invertebrates from commercial fisheries and research trawls. Over 660 distinct taxa were identified which contribute to the ongoing discovery and taxonomic description of the New Zealand biodiversity. Specimen records and distribution points inform fisheries interactions with non-target benthic invertebrate bycatch and contribute to research on spatial planning and development of ecological risk assessments of fishing impacts on benthic habitats.

This report describes observation data from seafloor photographic imagery collected by NIWA’s Deep Towed Imaging System (DTIS) since 2006 that have been re-analysed for occurrences of litter, with emphasis on marine litter. From 169 000 DTIS records around New Zealand, 149 were of marine litter. Each occurrence was located in the original imagery and classified following the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) guidelines on remotely observed marine litter.

The Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana has declining health indicators. This review looks at the marine restoration potential in the gulf, with a particular focus on biogenic habitats. Terminology and frameworks used in the marine restoration literature are summarised, and the gulf’s past and present environmental history reviewed. Most biogenic habitats show loss, except mangroves. Knowledge gaps are highlighted, and suggestions are made for future research and management work.

This study characterised the commercial surface-longline fisheries that capture striped marlin in New Zealand. It assessed operational and environmental factors impacting striped marlin bycatch rates. No clear trends in operational features increasing bycatch were detected, but spatial and seasonal patterns in the distribution of fishing effort appeared to explain a high proportion of captures by target species. Important environmental covariates were SST, chlorophyll-a, and moon illumination.

MPI Technical Paper no: 2021/12

Prepared for the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry for the Environment by the Science Advisory Panel

This report describes the results of a 3-week towed-camera survey of the Campbell Plateau seabed in May–June 2020, following a similar survey on the Chatham Rise in 2016. The aim of the survey was to collect quantitative data for benthic invertebrates in a region of importance for commercial fishing, to develop, test, and improve distribution models for key taxa. The report provides preliminary descriptions of the seabed habitats and fauna encountered along the 82 transects completed.

The National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) are regulations under the Resource Management Act 1991 and came into force on 1 May 2018. In December 2018, Forestry Ministers asked Te Uru Rākau and the Ministry for the Environment to carry out a review of the NES-PF that considered the matters agreed in the Terms of Reference. We have found that, overall, the NES-PF is effective, but further implementation support for councils and the forestry sector would lift performance and compliance.

Improving environmental performance and modernising fisheries management is at the core of extensive reforms that are underway currently in Fisheries New Zealand.

These factsheets provide information on Listeria and key good operating practices for the management and control of Listeria in the processing environment.

The 2009 New Zealand Total Diet Study (NZTDS) was undertaken by the then New Zealand
Food Safety Authority (NZFSA1), with management and technical input provided by the
Institute of Environmental Science & Research (ESR). The 2009 NZTDS is the seventh such
study, with previous ones undertaken in 1974/75, 1982, 1987/88, 1990/91, 1997/98 and 2003/04.

This report describes work to better understand spatial and temporal patterns in catch and effort data for silver warehou off the east coast of the South Island. Previous catch per unit effort analyses are summarised, and new analyses for the inshore fishery conducted. Association between large research trawl catches and environmental covariates are examined. Recommendations for future stock assessment analyses are then made.

This Report covers the period from 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020. It sets out how the One Billion Trees Fund (“the Fund”) is contributing to projects which will deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits for all New Zealanders.

Aquaculture contributes to the economic well-being of towns and communities throughout New Zealand, through farming, processing and support industries. Over the next 5 years, consents for up to 689 existing marine farms (60% of the total current marine farms) will expire, with consents for 602 of those farms (52%) expiring at the end of 2024.1