#conservation_photography

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Threats to Seabirds: Persecution⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Believe it or not - some people don't like birds. In the past, Spotted shags were culled en masse because they 'competed' with fisherman by eating fish. More recently, red-billed gulls have been shot in a few places around New Zealand - although we don't know the motivations of the shooters. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Seabirds already face a massive host of threats. Spotted shags in the Hauraki Gulf have declined massively in the past decades, with set-net fisheries and changing marine ecosystems implicated as causes. Human persecution on top of looming climate change, pollution, and fisheries could see these species vanish forever. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Aotearoa New Zealand has more seabird species than anywhere else in the world - surely we should take pride in this and help to conserve our seabirds as much we do our forest birds. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #seabirds #seabirdstory #conservation_photography #conservationphotographer #shag #crackingshag #endangeredspecies #predatorfree2050 #extinction #haurakigulf #aotearoa #newzealand #wildlifeconservation #introducedspecies #birds_ilife #birds_adored #birds_brilliance #raw_birds #threatenedspecies #seabirdscience #biology #conservation #persecution #birdstagram #your_best_birds #bird_lovers_daily ⠀⠀ https://www.instagram.com/p/Byn8fzvgiZw/?igshid=17qoicx0x4syw

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Threats to Seabirds: Introduced mammals⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ In Aotearoa New Zealand we're very aware of the dangers that introduced species pose to our native wildlife. Rats, stoats, and possums are all in the bad books, but pet animals are often overlooked. We don't like to think our beloved cats and dogs have any hand in endangering our native wildlife - but they're a huge problem. Uncontrolled dogs and cats can kill huge numbers of our native birds. One of the biggest threats to kororā / little blue penguins is dog attacks.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ We need to be responsible for the animals we welcome into our families to make sure that they don't have a negative impact on the ecosystems we live in. That means exercising our pets away from bird habitats, and keeping them under control at all times. This is really important for people living in coastal areas that are also breeding habitats for seabirds like penguins.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #seabirds #seabirdstory #conservation_photography #conservationphotographer #penguin #penguinstagram #endangeredspecies #predatorfree2050 #extinction #haurakigulf #aotearoa #newzealand #wildlifeconservation #introducedspecies #birds_ilife #birds_adored #birds_brilliance #raw_birds #threatenedspecies #seabirdscience #biology #conservation #pestfree https://www.instagram.com/p/Byixb3dgX3x/?igshid=ba2g2rorbofh

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Threats to Seabirds: Fisheries⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Fisheries by-catch is a problem for many of our native marine species - from seabirds to sea lions. Some species are more at-risk than others because of they way that they naturally forage. Takoketai / Black petrels are scavengers - often they forage with dolphins and pilot whales and pick up the scraps of squid that these messy feeders leave behind. They'll follow fishing boats to get a free feed of the bait on long-line hooks, but it's a fatal lunch. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Our fishing boats are not well observed - so while we know that these birds are being caught and killed, we don't know the scale of the problem. Black petrels are extremely vulnerable and face another host of other threats like introduced predators on one of their two breeding sites: Aotea Great Barrier Island. These threats in combination may drive faster declines in their population.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ We need better accountability from our fisheries - including cameras on vessels, to help mitigate by-catch and stop these birds sliding into extinction. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #seabirds #seabirdstory #conservation_photography #conservationphotographer #petrel #birdstragram #fisheries #fisheriesbycatch #bycatch #catchfishnotbirds #endangeredspecies #predatorfree2050 #extinction #haurakigulf #aotearoa #newzealand #wildlifeconservation #introducedspecies #birds_ilife #birds_adored #birds_brilliance #raw_birds #threatenedspecies #seabirdscience #biology #conservation #sustainability #seabird ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ https://www.instagram.com/p/BylTMV7AUCO/?igshid=1m6k098gh3x5u

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Disturbance on the water is a big threat to seabirds in areas of high boat traffic - like the Hauraki Gulf. Unfortunately, we often see scenes like this: recreational boats ploughing at speed through rafts of seabird resting on the water. Some birds can't get out of the way in time, and they're hit, injured, or killed outright. ⠀⠀ There are speed recommendations in the Hauraki Gulf to prevent larger vessels striking whales (particularly Bryde's whales) - could we do the same for rafts of seabirds? Slower speeds give them time to take off and get out of the way, and it doesn't take much to avoid disturbing them. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #seabirdscience #conservation #conservation_photography #seabird_story #seabird #shearwater #haurakigulf #seachange #threatenedspecies #wildlife #bird_photography #marine #newzealand #aotearoa #conservationphotographer #conservationbiology #wildlifescience #marineconservation #ocean #nikonnz @docgovtnz #wildlifeplanet #birdsofinstagram #wildlifeconservation https://www.instagram.com/p/ByVwW4RgXLi/?igshid=zp5vr47nm5bh