[12] In August 2018, the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Defence Force worked to build a nest site ahead of the breeding season at Papakanui.

[14] Birds were observed foraging in Te Arai Stream, the mouth of which is a popular flocking for post-breeding fairy terns, but appeared to be getting most of their food from elsewhere.

[11] Guthrie-Smith describes a nest as follows:"On such a strip, sparsely sprinkled with little heaps of pebbles and surface shells in two and threes, lay the couple of eggs.

These surface sea shells had been allowed to remain, as camouflage, untampered with, but from elsewhere had been also collected twenty or thirty other halves and wholes, showing deep lateral widths of purple and pink.

Beach narrowing, mainly due to housing developments and weed invasion, forces the terns to nest closer to the sea, putting their eggs at risk during storms.

The number of birds had plummeted to three breeding pairs and eleven individuals by 1983, but intensive conservation efforts were put in place by the New Zealand Wildlife Service.

Numbers continued to increase due to the Department of Conservation's Recovery Plan,[10] and by 2006 had reached 30 to 40 individuals including 12 breeding pairs.

[16] The Department of Conservation suspected this worsening was partially due to high winds, as well as the appearance of a "mysterious blue substance" on the beach at Waipu.

[16] In the 2006 Birthday Honours Gwenda Pulham was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for her work to protect fairy terns.

[16] With a total population at the time of fewer than fifty individuals including just ten breeding pairs, the IUCN rated this species as "Critically Endangered".

[10] The Te Arai North Ltd owned Tara Iti Golf Club was built near the fairy terns' nesting area.

Disagreement stems from the damming of the Te Arai Stream, interfering with the life cycle of fish said to be key to the diet of fairy-terns.

[21] In 2019, scientists who have been studying fairy terns at Mangawhai on Northland's east coast now suspect the bird's decline may be linked to the removal of mangroves from the harbour.