Seabirds around fishing vessels

Pied shag

Phalacrocorax varius varius

The New Zealand pied shag is a subspecies of the pied shag, which also occurs along the coast of Australia. In New Zealand, it is most numerous along the coast of Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Nelson, Marlborough, Fiordland, Southland, and Stewart Island. However, the pied shag is rarely seen during bird counts made from fishing vessels, as these birds tend to occupy coastal areas.

Phalacrocorax varius varius
CC-BY, Dragonfly Science

Mean number of pied shag recorded around fishing vessels during counts carried out by government observers, binned to 0.4 degree of longitude and latitude. The size of the circle indicates the number of observations, whereas the colour indicates the mean number of birds recorded during counts. Empty circles indicate that no birds were observed. The grey areas indicate water depths of less than 1000 m.

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