4 Mar 2021

'Wild west' fishing practices killing seabirds - study

From Midday Report, 12:46 pm on 4 March 2021

Our globe-trotting seabirds are dying at the hands of "wild west" international fishing practices, sparking a call for regulation across the globe.

A study which examines what happens to numerous species of albatross and petrels has found many migrate thousands of kilometres from New Zealand and become by-catch victims of high ocean fisheries.

The paper's co-author is professor Paul Scofield, a senior curator of natural history at Canterbury Museum.

He spoke to Māni Dunlop.