Muttonbirding Totally Explained

Everything about Muttonbirding totally explained

Muttonbirding is a seasonal harvesting activity, which may be recreational or commercial, of the chicks of petrels, especially shearwater species, for food, oil and feathers. Although the hunting of petrels and other seabirds has occurred in numerous places since prehistoric times, and there's evidence that many island populations have become extinct as a result, ‘muttonbirding’ usually refers now to the more sustainable and regulated harvesting of shearwaters in Australia and New Zealand. These include the Short-tailed Shearwater, also known as the Yolla or Australian Muttonbird, in Bass Strait, Tasmania, and the Sooty Shearwater, also known as the Titi or New Zealand Muttonbird, in the far south of New Zealand.

Australia

Licenced commercial harvesting of Short-tailed Shearwater chicks on the coast and islands of Tasmania began in 1903, although it had long been a traditional form of subsistence harvesting by Tasmanian Aborigines and European settlers there. However, by the late 20th century the industry was declining due to falling demand for the product and reduced interest by younger indigenous people in the main area of activity, the islands of the Furneaux Group.

New Zealand

The harvesting of Sooty Shearwater chicks on 36 islands, known as the Titi Islands, around Rakiura (Stewart Island), is managed entirely by Rakiura Māori. There is some evidence that this harvest has been occurring since at least the 17th century.

Popular muttonbirds

Muttonbird may refer to various seabirds, particularly petrels in the genus Puffinus, called Shearwaters, where the young birds are harvested for food and oil by being extracted by hand from the nesting burrows before they fledge. Some popular species are:

Short-tailed Shearwater, a seabird that nests in south-eastern Australia, particularly in the Furneaux Group of islands in eastern Bass Strait
Sooty Shearwater, a seabird that nests mainly in New Zealand and islands in the South Atlantic Ocean
Grey-faced petrel (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater, a seabird found throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans
Manx Shearwater, a seabird breeding in the North Atlantic region was havested in historical times
Providence Petrels, harvested to extinction on Norfolk Island in the early 19th century, were known as 'muttonbirds' or 'flying sheep'

Further Information

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