The study summarised diets of top predators in New Zealand waters and estimated the spatial-temporal distribution of many of their prey species caught in inshore fisheries. These were consistent with previous estimates and with existing information and could be used as inputs in other processes such as spatial risk assessment models. Care should be taken for species such as squid or hoki where only the shallow part of their range was included and species groups such as jack mackerel or rattail.

This project estimated the at-sea distribution within the New Zealand EEZ of 11 seabird taxa considered to be most at risk from captures by New Zealand commercial fishing. Predictive habitat models fitted to spatial information were used to predict at-sea distribution of each taxon for each month. Seabird tracking data were used to derive monthly proportions of birds within the EEZ, which were nearly always lower than those assumed by the most recent multispecies seabird spatial risk assessment.

Variables that could potentially influence non-protected species bycatch in surface longlining were assessed. For example, seabird captures were influenced by variables such as moon phase and start month, as well as fishing behaviour-related variables, such as whether the tori line was over the bait entry point. A main conclusion from a post-hoc workshop was that a set of mandatory variables is required to reduce data scarcity limiting the assessment of mitigation measures.

This work reassesses the potential impact of historical setnet fishing on Māui dolphin, replicating previous analyses in combination with updated catch rate estimates. Catch rates for Hector’s dolphin around Banks Peninsula have been applied to Māui dolphin, and aerial surveys conducted in 2012/13 resulted in Hector’s dolphin abundance estimates that were greater than those from boat-based surveys conducted in 1998–2000. As such, catch rates may be much lower than estimated previously.

This report documents updated information for Underwater Topographic Features (UTFs: seamounts, knolls, hills) in the New Zealand region, and the development of a new Postgres database to serve this information. There are 42 fields for each UTF covering generic descriptors, with physical, oceanographic, geological, biological, and fisheries information. Data are given for 2964 UTFs distributed within the Territorial Sea (89), Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (1907), and outside the EEZ (968).

An updated risk assessment was conducted for 54 New Zealand marine mammals using a multi-species spatially explicit risk assessment. Goodness-of-fit assessments indicated reasonable performance to predict total number of captures for pinniped and delphinid species with >5 captures, but poor performance to predict the spatial location of those captures. Poor performance may be due to inappropriate structural model assumptions or to biological inputs. Results should be interpreted with caution.

New wildlife tracking devices have demonstrated promising results in seabird monitoring and fisheries management. Xargos and Xsputnik loggers were deployed on Antipodean albatrosses in 2019, making use of X band navigation radar detection and real time GPS technology to study seabird movement and foraging patterns at sea, allowing monitoring of in situ interactions with fishing vessels and analysis of which fisheries pose the highest risk of mortality amongst foraging seabirds.

Commercial catch and effort data and fisheries observer records of catch and discards by species were used to estimate the rate and level of non-target catch and discards in the orange roughy and oreo trawl fisheries for fishing years 2002–03 to 2019–20. Estimates were made for broad categories of catch and discards including target species, QMS species, non-QMS fish, and non-QMS invertebrate species, and estimates of annual catch were made for several of the major individual non-target species.

Commercial catch and effort data and fisheries observer records of catch and discards by species were used to estimate the rate and level of non-target catch and discards in the jack mackerel trawl fisheries for the fishing years 2002–03 to 2018–19. Estimates were made for broad categories of catch and discards including target species, QMS species, non-QMS fish, and non-QMS invertebrate species, and estimates of annual catch were made for several of the major individual non-target species.

Fisheries New Zealand commissioned a report focused on benthic effects of open ocean aquaculture overseas. This included case studies from Norway regarding water quality effects (Keeley 2020). A technical working group was then formed to discuss issues and develop guidelines for benthic and water column effects, given the range of options available for monitoring and management of these effects. Iwi and stakeholders were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the first draft.

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 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.