(3News.co.nz)
Fears for dolphins after netting restricions lifted
18-Mar 20:03
Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley has loaded the dice against survival of the endangered Hector's dolphin by lifting netting restrictions on commercial fishers in the South Island, environmentalists say.
One lobby, WWF-New Zealand, today called on the Government to protect both Hector's and Maui's dolphins from net fishing throughout their range to give the rare species their best chance of survival.
Mr Heatley today exempted commercial fishers of butterfish from the set net prohibition on the east coast of the South Island, after legal action taken by the Federation of Commercial Fishermen and others.
The minister - a keen amateur fisherman - also ordered officials to advise him whether a similar exemption may be warranted for recreational anglers using set nets to catch butterfish in the same area, and his ministry will soon release a consultation paper.
But Green Party oceans spokesman Gareth Hughes said today said the minister had been sitting on the review but made a "political" decision to release it late on the Friday of the Christchurch memorial day, in order to "bury" the news.
"Fishers of butterfish use gillnets which they set close to shore, the area where Hector's dolphins are most common," said Mr Hughes.
"Dolphins could get caught in these nets."
Though the Fisheries Ministry had said no dolphins had been reported caught in butterfish nets, only a tiny proportion of dolphin catches were ever reported by commercial fishers, and independent observers had only spent a few days aboard butterfish boats.
The population of Hector's dolphins was just over 8000 and Mr Heatley should base decisions on a "precautionary principle" to actions which might further erode the species' chances of recovering to healthy population levels, Mr Hughes said.
"The Government is gambling with the survival of this precious species."
The ministry's deputy chief executive for fisheries management, Gavin Lockwood, said the High Court last year ruled that two restrictions implemented in 2008 to protect dolphins were to be reconsidered.
Mr Heatley decided to keep a ban on commercial fishing using set nets in the area between four and seven nautical miles from the shore on the North Island west coast. This ban protected the Maui's dolphin which has a population of only 111, because its genetic diversity could be damaged by even one or two dolphins being killed in nets.
Mr Lockwood said the minister decided the risk of Hector's dolphin deaths was acceptable on the east coast of the South Island, allowing for the type of nets used for butterfish there, and the numbers of Hector's dolphins.
But WWF-New Zealand said fishing with nets was the main cause of Hector's and Maui's dolphins deaths, and that since the 1970s, populations of South Island Hector's dolphins had plummeted from around 30,000 to just 7270 today.
"Fishing nets kill dolphins," said WWF executive director Chris Howe. "The Government's decision to allow commercial set net fishing along the east coast of the South Island means Hector's dolphins are at greater risk of dying needlessly in fishing nets."
NZPA
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