A life-saving partnership

The BNZ Foundation has announced a $600,000 partnership with the Live Ocean Foundation aimed at protecting biodiversity in the Hauraki Gulf.

The partnership includes $300,000 targeted towards helping stabilise the endangered black petrel population over the next three years.

The three-year investment aims to reverse the decline of the endemic seabird that was once widespread across the country but now nests on only two islands, with just 5,000 breeding pairs remaining. The long-term vision is to restore the species to historic breeding sites across the North Island.

With new marine protection recently introduced, Live Ocean co-founders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke say the partnership marks a crucial moment for Hauraki Gulf conservation.

“There’s never been a better time to get behind the exceptional researchers working to ensure precious species like the tākoketai are not lost, and for all New Zealanders to get to know the black petrel a little better,” Burling said.

“Marine protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf have recently increased significantly (from less than 1 per cent up to nearly 6 per cent), which is a really positive step. We need to continue this momentum, working towards a future where biodiversity is being sustained and supported.”

BNZ Foundation chair Dan Huggins said the partnership demonstrated the Foundation’s commitment to protecting ecosystems critical to New Zealand’s future.

“We are incredibly proud to partner with Live Ocean – an organisation doing vital work to protect and restore the ocean that sustains us all.”

Once found throughout New Zealand, black petrels now breed only on Aotea Great Barrier Island and Hauturu-o-Toi Little Barrier Island. The all-black seabird, with a one-metre wingspan, is a cousin to New Zealand’s albatrosses and an ocean voyager that nests and fledges in local waters.

Every year, chicks embark on their first migration across the Pacific, yet fewer than 10 per cent return. Scientists know little about where they go or what happens to them. The species faces multiple threats, including fisheries bycatch in South American waters, climate change, light pollution and introduced predators.

Biz Bell, ecologist with Wildlife Management International Ltd leads the work around the species and has studied them for over 30 years, supported by Ngāti Rehua as kaitiaki of the tākoketai, and also by DOC’s Conservation Services Team.

“It [the funding] will allow us to focus on tākoketai chicks and to understand the risks they face once they leave Aotea. Tracking more chicks than ever before, on their migration across the Pacific into South American waters will give us unprecedented insights on their behaviour en route and in their wintering grounds off Ecuador.”

“We hope the new data will help us work towards improving the chick return rates to New Zealand, ultimately leading to improved tākoketai survival and higher levels of recruitment into the breeding population on Aotea.”

As a sentinel species, black petrel survival indicates the health of the wider ocean ecosystem.

Tuke said protecting them is critical.

“We’re really proud to announce that the BNZ Foundation is joining the Live Ocean whānau as a flagship supporter. Support from organisations that share our ambition is absolutely vital, and with their focus on regenerating Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity, the BNZ Foundation are a well-aligned partner for Live Ocean.”

As well as funding fieldwork, the BNZ Foundation is generously matching public donations for GPS trackers, up to $25,000. The campaign, which hopes to raise funds for 25 trackers, launched on December 1.

The black petrel is one of around 30 seabird species in Tīkapa Moana, the Hauraki Gulf. It is the second seabird species Live Ocean is supporting, building on work to halt the decline of the Antipodean albatross.

Fieldwork begins in this month, with chick banding and GPS tracker fitting scheduled for April 2026.