Baited remote underwater stereo-video (stereo BRUV) units were deployed between March 2009 and April 2010 at three locations along New Zealand’s northern coast: White Island (37°32.000’ S, 177°11.000’ E), Great Barrier Island (36° 37.000’ S, 175° 57.000’ E) and the Three Kings Islands (34° 11.000’ S, 172° 02.000’ E). At each location, videos were deployed during daylight hours at a series of depths from 50 to ~1,200 m, yielding a total of 165 deployments. The stereo BRUV units used two full High Definition Sony handycams (models HDR-CX7 and HDR-CX500) in underwater housings mounted on a base bar inside a frame23. The bait consisted of two kilograms of frozen pilchard Sardinops sagax (Jenyns) that was thawed, chopped and packed into two bait bags made of steel dipped in plastic coating with a square mesh of 10 mm. The field of view was illuminated by eight blue Cree XLamps XP-E LEDs each delivering a radiant flux of 350–425 mW at wavelengths ranging from 450 to 465 nm43, except for one deployment that used white light. Video analysis and species identification was done on the first 180 minutes of each video deployment. Accurate identification was aided by the collection of voucher specimens of all species, using baited traps deployed at the same locations as the stereo BRUVs. These specimens are registered and preserved in the national fish collection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.