Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) population and tracking project
These are the monthly reports for POP2018-02: Hoiho population and tracking project.

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Summary 

Hoiho (yellow-eyed penguins) are listed as Endangered in both the NZ Threat classification and with the IUCN. They face a range of threats, both marine and terrestrial, and recent poor breeding success and disease events at some colonies have highlighted the precarious nature of hoiho (Ellenberg & Mattern 2012; Webster 2018). 

Direct fishing mortality, particularly in setnets, along with indirect effects of habitat modification and reduction of prey availability adversely affect hoiho, particularly on the mainland, Rakiura and Whenua Hou populations.

Key knowledge gaps lie in having representative tracking data over all sites and life stages to better understand foraging behaviour and fisheries overlap, and the site-specific identification of prey items to determine drivers for differing breeding success, animal condition and disease susceptibility.