A fishing trawler has caught 207 adult tītī Sooty shearwater in a single event, while operating near Te Waewae Bay earlier this year.

The large capture event was reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and is documented in its recently released January - March 2025 report on seabirds and protected marine species bycatch.

Forest & Bird’s Regional Conservation Manager for Otago and Southland, Chelsea McGaw, said that while they were working on the ground to protect special seabirds such as tītī, commercial fishers were wrecking havoc at sea.

“Given the timing of the bycatch, it’s highly likely these birds would have been foraging at sea to feed their chicks on land."

“This makes this a double loss – the adult plus the chick which probably starved to death when their parent did not return.

"It is a sobering thought that catches like this are not illegal, as long as they are reported,” McGaw said.

“No trawl net should be bringing up over 200 seabirds at once."

"This is a warning sign – a trawler that can kill this many tītī in one go could easily wipe out other threatened or at-risk seabirds, like the toroa Antipodean albatross."

"We need mandatory, enforceable rules that include effective bird scaring devices and fish waste management,” she said.

MPI said in their report that following the single large capture event all regional operators were notified and advised of the operational measures that could be used to reduce the likelihood of further events of this magnitude.

Following the event Fisheries New Zealand also contacted Seafood New Zealand, the Department of Conservation and local commercial fishers.