CONSERVATION OF MARINE BIRDS IN NEW ZEALAND 



265 



though all albatrosses are fully protected 

 throughout New Zealand. 



Enforcement of legislation in small and iso- 

 lated communities is not always easy and 

 sometimes may not be wholly politic. How- 

 ever, the Maoris of the Chathams have been 

 specially informed of the conservation issues 

 at stake, and a "gentleman's agreement" has 

 been reached: If a planned survey shows that 

 full protection of albatrosses in the Chathams 

 is indeed essential, the Maoris will honor the 

 legislation to the letter; on the other hand, if 

 limited exploitation seems justified, the Wild- 

 life Service has agreed that it will be allowed. 



Conclusions 



Insofar as conservation measures of a pas- 

 sive type are concerned, it is fortunate that 

 the offshore and outlying islands not yet occu- 

 pied, farmed, or set aside as reserves, are 

 likely to remain unexploited, either because 

 they are too remote for exploitation to be eco- 

 nomical or because they are too inhospitable, 

 or both. In any event, public opinion is now 

 such that unmodified or otherwise biologi- 

 cally important islands not already reserved 

 would be proclaimed as reserves if threat of 

 exploitation arose unexpectedly, unless they 

 were found to be major sites for oil or 

 minerals. Even so, legislation exists that 

 offers the possibility of protection even from 

 this threat, and has already been used to 

 exempt some important mainland areas from 

 prospecting and the granting of mining 

 rights. 



It is gratifying to realize that, although 

 some endemic marine subspecies (generally 

 not very different from neighboring sub- 

 species) are endangered to varying degrees, 

 there are very few whose disappearance would 

 result in the disappearance of the species it- 

 self from the New Zealand area. Only one en- 

 demic marine species has become extinct in re- 

 cent times, the Auckland Island merganser 

 (Mergus australis) in about 1905, and only six 

 are currently in any real danger: the Chatham 

 Island taiko (Pterodroma magentae), the 

 black petrel, Button's shearwater (Puffinus 

 huttoni); the Westland black petrel (Procel- 

 laria westlandica), the shore plover, and the 

 Chatham Island oystercatcher (Haematopus 



chathamensis). However, a list of this kind is 

 often a matter of some controversy. Some- 

 thing is at present being done to help all but 

 the first and last of these. The Chatham Is- 

 land taiko had not been positively identified 

 for about 50 years, until 1977 when this 

 species was "rediscovered" on the main island 

 of the Chatham group; though its numerical 

 status is unknown, it is rare. The Chatham Is- 

 land oystercatcher, although certainly 

 "threatened" (only about 50 are known to 

 exist), does occur on four islands, two of which 

 are reserves. Although this species has not 

 been actively studied until now, it is soon to 

 be the subject of a full ecological survey. 



A few words about the hunting of marine 

 species: Muttonbirding aside that is, apart 

 from the taking by Maoris of the young of the 

 sooty shearwater and the gray-faced petrel- 

 there has been no legal hunting of any marine 

 birds in New Zealand for 35 years now, nor is 

 there likely to be. This situation reflects the 

 consistently increasing weight of informed 

 public opinion in favor of, let alone scientific 

 concern for, transoceanic migrants. The pro- 

 hunting lobby for some species of waders, in 

 particular the eastern bar-tailed godwit 

 (Limosa lapponica baueri), is a small one, the 

 numbers of which decrease yearly. However, 

 small-scale poaching occasionally occurs; it is 

 punished when discovered. 



Protection for marine species extends only 

 to the 3-mile limit of New Zealand's territorial 

 waters, but it would be extended further 

 should New Zealand follow the present trend 

 of including as territorial waters all those that 

 cover the continental shelf or beyond. [This 

 extension occurred in 1977; the marine fishing 

 zone for New Zealand waters has been ex- 

 tended to 200 miles (360km) around all 

 coasts.] 



Only three marine species are not afforded 

 full protection under the Wildlife Act: Two, 

 the black-backed or Dominican gull (Larus 

 dominicanus) and the black shag (Phalacro- 

 corax carbo), are totally unprotected the 

 first because of its predation on some rare 

 shorebirds during the breeding season and for 

 its attacks on sheep and lambs at a similar 

 time, and the second because of its depreda- 

 tions (seldom serious) on the introduced trout 

 and salmon, mainly in fresh waters the third 



