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.

A machine learning algorithm was developed to analyse underwater videos and to detect the presence of macroalgae. Three habitat-forming algae Ecklonia radiata, Lessonia variegate, and Carpophyllum spp. were successfully identified. The machine learning models can be readily applied to ongoing monitoring programmes to rapidly determine and map the distributions of key macroalgal indicator species along coastlines. Monitoring data are critical to documenting changes in our coastal communities.

This report documents activities, timing, samples, and data collected during the two-week survey in August 2020 to continue the Chatham Rise seamount recovery survey series. The survey used primarily a towed camera system with high definition digital video and still cameras. It focused on the Graveyard seamounts (55 camera transects), but survey work was carried out also on seamounts in the Andes area (24 camera transects, 3 epibenthic sled tows), and Epilogue Seamount (1 camera transect).

This study, conducted in stages over four years, synthesises available information on CO2 and climate-induced changes that affect the New Zealand region and our fisheries. The report reviews the known implications of these changes to the physical and oceanographic system in the coming decades, the state-of-knowledge of how specific fisheries may be affected and, where known, combines this information to determine potential risks to these fisheries.

The spatial analysis of bottom-contacting trawl effort by commercial trawlers within the New Zealand Territorial Sea and 200 n. mile Exclusive Economic Zone (TS+EEZ), in waters open to trawling down to 1600 m depths, is presented in this report, for different time periods during the 1990–2019 fishing years, based on available data. Separate summaries are presented for inshore and deepwater fisheries. A summary of shellfish dredging is also included.

The extent of the bottom-contacting trawl footprint in New Zealand waters open to trawling is updated by this report to include the 2018 (1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018) fishing year, where data are available for the commercial inshore (fishing years 2008–2018) and deepwater trawl fisheries (1990–2018). Effort data for other bottom-contacting fishing methods, Danish seine and shellfish dredge, are also summarised by fishery, for 1990 to 2018 (1989–90 to 2017–18).

The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake caused extensive uplift along the north-eastern coastline of the South Island of New Zealand. The disturbance resulted in damage to rocky reefs and widespread mortality of marine organisms, including important taonga and habitat-forming species such as pāua and bull kelp. This report describes the results of nearshore surveys at long-term monitoring sites between 2.5 and 3.5 years after the earthquake to assess the trajectories of recovery of rocky reef communities

Data from boat-based surveys north and south of Kaikōura Peninsula between 2013 and 2018 were analysed to assess potential impacts of the November 2016 earthquake on abundance and distribution of Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) in the Kaikōura region. A binomial mark-resight model estimated 250 – 450 adult Hector’s dolphins in the area for most survey periods. Results do not indicate a substantial change in the number of adults using the area in the 16 months following the earthquake.

Electronic monitoring (EM) for seabird capture data for the 2017/18 fishing year was compared with a NIWA audit of the footage and observer data. For the 26 trips in common, the audit recorded 5 seabird captures, as did the EM data reviewed by Trident Systems. However, both missed a seabird capture that was recorded by the other. For the observer data on trips with reviewed EM, 5 seabird captures were recorded, the same number as EM for these trips.

Using GPS tracking data obtained from yellow-eyed penguins since 2003, habitat models using the maximum entropy method were developed. Main factors determining habitat use were bathymetry, seafloor sediment composition, and colony distance. Acceptable model outputs were generated for North Otago and the Otago Peninsula as well as northern Stewart Island and Codfish Island. No adequate data were available for the Catlins, the eastern Foveaux Strait region, and southern Stewart Island; extrapolation from other regions proved unreliable. Habitat use maps are presented.

A survey of high-density breeding colonies of Westland petrels Procellaria westlandica, an endemic New Zealand seabird, undertaken between 2007 to 2011, conservatively estimated the population size to be 2827 (95%CI, 2143–3510) annual breeding pairs. The population may have been underestimated by up to 10% but is unlikely to have exceeded 4000 annual breeding pairs at the time of this survey. This estimate is the first detailed population estimate for all known breeding areas of this species.