After three weeks of intense competition, the endangered sea bird -Fiji Petrel or Kacau ni Gau has come in second place in a competition in New Zealand.

Members of the public were invited to vote online for New Zealand’s sea bird of the year.

Nature Fiji Director, Anne O’Brien says the Fiji bird entered the competition upon an invitation from New Zealand.

“Fijian Petrel isn’t actually a New Zealand bird but they invited us because they wanted to help us and they wanted to raise awareness to our sea-birds as well and it ended up that they had quite a few birds for people to vote for online. It is possible that Fiji Petrel would reach waters just off the coast of New Zealand when they were flying; probably not but it’s really kind of them to invite us’’.

The main aim of this competition has been to raise awareness about the endangered sea-birds.

“It didn’t matter that we didn’t win People are now thoroughly aware of our petrel and care about it and that’s fantastic. It’s exactly what we were wanting’’.

The Kacau ni Gau is an endangered species and can only be found on the island of Gau in the Lomaiviti Group.

The rarity and significance is such that it is printed on the Fijian 20 dollar note and about only fifty birds survive today.