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The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2014 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('key species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Fiordland Penguin Eudyptes pachyrhynchus	NT	breeding (1968–1980)	115–261 breeding pairs	A1, A4ii

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2014. The most recent assessment (2014) is shown below.

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	happen­ing now	some of popul­ation/area (10–49%)	slow deteri­oration (1–10% over 3 gener­ations)	medium
Human intrusions and disturbance	likely in long term (beyond 4 years)	few individ­uals/small area (<10%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	not assessed

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1933	Open Bay Islands	Wildlife Refuge (IV)	71

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	major (>10)
Marine Intertidal	major (>10)
Shrubland	major (>10)
Forest	minor (<10)

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Open Bay Islands (New Zealand). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/open-bay-islands-iba-new-zealand on 03/01/2025.