As many New Zealanders hit the water this summer to hook the big one, there's a warning tonight that some fishers may get more than they bargained for.
Our country's seabirds are renowned the world over, but careless fishing is putting some species under threat.
Birdwatching is not so much passion as obsession for American tourist Noah Stryckland, who is here at the end of his very big year.
"I'm trying to see as many birds as I can in one calendar year," he says. "I'm doing it worldwide, so I started last January in Antarctica. Since then and I've travelled through 40 countries and seen almost 6000 species of birds."
In doing so, Mr Stryckland set a new world record, and he's here at the end of that landmark journey because New Zealand boasts a bounty of birdlife. It's often called the seabird capital of the world.
"A lot of the seabirds that nest on the islands here don't nest anywhere else," says Mr Stryckland.
One-third of the world's seabirds come here to breed, but many species are threatened or endangered.
One of those birds, the New Zealand storm petrel, is so rare it was presumed to be extinct and was only rediscovered 12 years ago.
Its habitat is in the Hauraki Gulf, where predators like rats have mostly been eradicated.
The biggest threat today comes from people on the water, fishing for the big one but landing a bird.
"People don't realise if they catch one or two birds per boat and one of those dies, that's going to have a big effect," says Forest and Bird seabird advocate Karen Baird.
Forest and Bird is campaigning this summer to make fishermen aware of the risks and the easy steps they can take to reduce them.
"The first one is operating a clean boat," says Ms Baird. "Keep the bait in a bucket with a lid, and only bring it out when you're going to bait a hook. The other important thing, which is quite obvious, is that you want to get your bait down quickly before the bird has a chance to grab it."
Brett Rathe has been fishing the Hauraki Gulf for the past 40 years. He's seen a big decline in its bird population and says fishing and conservation should go hand in hand.
"They're our fish finders," he says. "If you wipe out all the birds, you're going to be flying blind."
It's a message to fishers to keep their eyes wide open to what they might catch both above and below.
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