Conservation:
Forest & Bird is calling for an immediate extension to a ban on commercial and recreational set-netting around Otago Peninsula, following the release of a major new international review that has found that set nets kill more than 400,000 seabirds around the world every year.
The results of the review, undertaken by conservation group BirdLife International, have been published in the Journal of Biological Conservation.
The 400,000 death toll is described as conservative, as most deaths go unreported, and because it is known that “ghost nets” can continue to capture birds after the nets have been abandoned. The study uses the term “gill nets;” which are more commonly known as “set nets” in New Zealand.
Set nets are mainly used in coastal waters. Their fine nylon threads are invisible to diving seabirds such as penguins and shearwaters, as well as Hector’s dolphins, and turtles. There are less than six hundred pairs of yellow-eyed penguins left on mainland New Zealand. Around 150 of those live on the Otago Peninsula.
http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=201708&fm=psp,tsf
Our Green Planet 