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Summary
The Department of Conservation (DOC) commissioned Southern Seabirds to apply social science research to better understand the drivers and barriers related to the uptake of the seabird bycatch mitigation standards. Commercial fishers are expected to meet the mitigation standards under the Government’s recently renewed National Plan of Action – Seabirds 2020.
The overall purpose of this research was to help provide an understanding of what could be done, by whom and how, to lead fishers to consistently follow the mitigation standards. The surface longline fleet was selected for this research because information from a range of sources suggested there are issues around full uptake of the mitigation standards amongst some fishers within the fleet. Within New Zealand, at the time this project was undertaken there were around 26 boats operating in the surface longline fleet.