New report highlights New Zealand’s global responsibility for seabirds

New Zealand is an important area for seabird breeding

A new report has identified significant areas of New Zealand’s land and sea that require special consideration to protect the seabirds that depend on these places for their survival. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, New Zealand’s largest independent conservation organisation, says the report – New Zealand Seabirds: Important Bird Areas and Conservation – has major implications for its government’s ongoing large-scale sell-off of deep sea oil and gas drilling rights.

The work is part of a global effort to identify where bird species live to ensure threatened species are adequately protected.

“New Zealand has an extraordinary wealth of seabirds,” says Seabird Advocate for Forest & Bird, Karen Baird. “More than one-third of the world’s seabird species live at least part of their lives in our Exclusive Economic Zone.

“New Zealand also has more seabird species that breed only within its jurisdiction than any other country in the world. We have 36 species. Mexico is next on the list, with only five species.

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