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The number of humpback sightings and the number of whales recorded in this study suggest a slow increase over the last 10 years, particularly in the last 4 years. The results of this study may have been influenced by a variety of factors, the most important of which may be inconsistent effort. The results presented in this report are broadly consistent with that described by Dawbin (1956). As reported by Dawbin (1956), and found in this study, the northern migration occurs between May and August while the southern occurs from September to December. There is little evidence of a change in migration patterns past the New Zealand coast. The inability to quantify effort is a major limitation with the data and does not make it possible to draw clear conclusions on population size or trends in migration. However, the results are useful in determining the locality and seasonality of humpback whales as they migrate along New Zealand coasts.

This is the final report describing the results from the second and third years of a three-year programme to determine the costs and benefits of aerial 1080 possum control operations to North Island robins (Petroica australis longipes) and moreporks (Ninox novaeseelandiae) in Pureora Forest Park, North Island, New Zealand. During this study robins were individually colour-banded, and moreporks radio-tagged in both treatment and non-treatment study areas. A poison operation using carrot baits in August 1997 covered 8577 ha and incorporated the 300 ha Waimanoa study area. A poison operation using cereal baits in August 1998 covered just the 200 ha Long Ridge study area. After the 1997 operation, very few possums remained alive and rat foot-print tracking indices remained very low during the robin nesting season (September 1997 February 1998). Similarly, possum and rat population indices were much reduced after the 1998 operation, but rats and possums were found in a small portion of the study area, presumably because it did not receive baits. Following both the 1997 and 1998 poison operations, there was no significant difference in the proportion of banded robins that disappeared from the non-treatment and treatment study areas. During the 1997/98 nesting season, the nesting success of robins was significantly better in the treatment area than in the non-treatment area. One year after the poison operation (spring 1998), the robin population in the treatment area had increased by 37% on the number present just prior to the poison operation, compared with 16.3% in the non-treatment area. No radio-tagged moreporks were available in the treatment area during the 1997 poison operation, and all three radio-tagged in each of treatment and non-treatment areas were still alive two months after the poison operation in 1998.

In the report by Moore & Blezard· the object was to standardise mollymawk census methods by outlining reliable and repeatable count methods. This was intended to make it easier for future workers to repeat and/or interpret the counts of 1995-1997, and thus allow the monitoring of future population trends. The tabulated data from the counting were not essential to the method, and so were not included in Moore & Blezard (1999). The Data Supplements are presented here for the record, and for those who may wish to consult the tables for the counts conducted by Peter Moore (in 1990), Alastair Mclean (in 1993), and Reg Blezard (in 1997-1998).

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In the May 1999 budget, the New Zealand Government announced that an extra $6.6 million over five years would be given to the Department of Conservation to fund an integrated stoat control research programme. Stoats, ferrets and weasels were introduced to New Zealand in the 1880s in an attempt to control rabbits. Although stoats were implicated in the decline of some native bird species soon after their introduction, the extent to which they are still contributing to the decline of native species is only now becoming clear. Their impacts on threatened and endangered birds are of particular concern. Stoat control in New Zealand will have to be ongoing if some endemic species are to survive on the mainland. Currently, stoat control relies largely on labour-intensive trapping and the use of poisoned hen eggs. New, more cost-effective and sustainable approaches to controlling stoats are urgently needed. The extra funding means that there is now a real opportunity for finding cost-effective solutions for managing stoats. A Stoat Technical Advisory Group (composed of experts from the Department of Conservation, Lincoln University and Auckland University) has been established to develop and oversee this new research programme. Funding for the first year is $338,000 with funding increasing in 2000/01 to $1.406 million and for the subsequent three years, $1.631 million, each year.

This report is the first stage in a three-stage development of a Border Control Programme for aquatic plants that have the potential to become ecological weeds in New Zealand. A large number of freshwater aquatic plants have already been introduced and are naturalised in New Zealand, impacting on most waterbodies within this country. There are many additional potential weed species reported as present in New Zealand, but not naturalised, and an even greater number not recorded as introduced here. Some of these species could pose an even greater threat to our aquatic environment than those weeds currently naturalised. A range of tables is presented to illustrate the array of new aquatic species that are already believed to be in New Zealand or that could enter and become established. Possible entry pathways identified in this report include natural spread from wind- and bird-dispersed seed, introduction of ornamental, culinary and medicinal herbs, contaminants in other plants and produce, mislabelled plants, and various types of illegal imports. Existing weed risk assessment models fail to adequately separate aquatic plants with different levels of impact. A new model is presented, tailored to the impacts of aquatic species. Tables are presented to demonstrate the improved system of ranking risks for aquatic plant species. A combination of assessments for weediness and the risk of entry into New Zealand will determine the potential threat of each species, allowing a comparison with existing weed species and other species not yet naturalised or introduced here. The greatest risk is perceived to be posed by some species reported to be present, but not yet naturalised in New Zealand, followed by species not reported here, but traded overseas with the potential to be brought here illegally.

Until recently, the herpetofaunal diversity of the West Coast has remained relatively unexplored. Preliminary protein investigations of West Coast skink material indicated that unrecognised species might be present in the area. To clarify questions relating to the skink species present on the West Coast, a joint DOC/Victoria University study of lizards in the West Coast Conservancy Area has recently been completed. As part of this study, we undertook a taxonomic survey of Oligosoma skinks in the West Coast region, using allozyme (protein) variation as the primary data source. Analyses of allozymes are useful because they can identify reproductively isolated populations where they occur together, even if colour and morphology conceal this diversity, and they have previously allowed significant cryptic diversity to be revealed within New Zealand reptiles (for example, Daugherty et al. 1990a; 1990b; 1994; Hitchmough 1997). The allozyme data revealed the existence of three undescribed taxa, which we have labelled: O. "Big Bay", O . " Grey Valley" and O . " Open Bay Islands". O. "Open Bay Islands" remains undescribed due to a lack of collected material from this species. The other two species are being formally described in a paper to be submitted to the New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Discovery of new species of lizards is nothing new. The number of lizard species recognised in New Zealand has increased significantly in the last 45 years. In 1955, McCann recognised 28 species of lizards here in 1994, 59 species were recognised (Daugherty et al., 1994), and by 1999, that number has increased further to over 60 described species, with more than ten other species still undescribed. This increase has occurred clue to the finds of observant field workers and members of the public who continue to discover animals in "out of the way" places, and to the application of new genetic techniques to investigate geographic variation. Species newly discovered in the last 20 years include obvious new species such as Hoplodactylus rakiuriae (Thomas 1981) and O. longipes (Patterson, 1997), and cryptic species that are highly similar in morphology, such as O. maccanni and O. inconspicuum (Patterson & Daugherty 1990).

There were 195 specimens returned from 19 separate fishing trips with onboard observers, between 1 January and 30 September 1998, where birds were killed as a bycatch to various forms of fishing practice. Four of these trips contributed 82% of the birds returned. These autopsies were undertaken for the Department of Conservation as CSL Contract 98/3091. All costs of labelling and packaging, importation under the Biosecurity Act, transportation from Port of Landing to Wellington by refrigerated truck, cold storage, and autopsy facilities were met by the Conservation Services Levy. In 1998 these birds were received from trawlers, domestic tuna longliners, joint venture tuna longliners, and domestic bottom longliners (Tables 1-4). The number of specimens returned for autopsy does not in any way indicate probable catch rates for differing classes of vessel or fishing method, as the observer coverage was not equally distributed throughout the fishing effort. Specific catch locations for the specimens returned are not provided here on the grounds of commercial sensitivity as required by the Ministry of Fisheries and some parts of the fishing industry. However, the maps (Figures 1-5) provide the general location of catches and species returned for the period covered by this report. The distribution shown does not imply any relationship with fishing effort or method as indicated above.