The Government says it’s ok for the fishing industry to kill 20 endangered Hector’s dolphins in Canterbury, every year. They are among 50 Hector’s allowed to be killed across the country per annum.

Dolphin deaths in fishing nets are usually hidden from the public, though cameras on fishing boats now reveal a 600% increase in dolphin bycatch compared with before cameras.

So today, Saturday 1 February, Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders, staged a haunting display of those 20 ‘dead’ Hector’s dolphins allowed to be killed in Canterbury every year, bloodied and entangled in nets, on New Brighton beach, to ‘expose the dolphin carnage’.

The Dolphin Defenders used life-size models, but they say the installation showed “what extinction looks like” - a needless and wanton waste of dolphin lives in trawl and set nets at the hands of the fishing industry.

The charity’s founder and chair, Christine Rose, said the installation of the 20 dolphins on New Brighton beach made the deaths of dolphins tangible for beach goers, especially as a pod of live Hector’s dolphins delighted visitors to the busy beach throughout the day.

Mrs Rose said today’s action created an emotional experience for beach goers,

“Today, Cantabrians were clear that no dolphin should be killed in a fishing net.”

"But this should be a wake up call, not just for the many local dolphin lovers on the beach for the area’s kite day, but for all New Zealanders."

“We know that no fisherman wants to kill a dolphin, but at least 18 Hector’s dolphins have been killed since October 2023, and more than 50 since 2021. Most of them have been in Canterbury waters. This is a damning reflection on so-called fishing industry leaders as well as law makers in New Zealand.”

“These dolphins’ deaths are likely underreported despite cameras on boats, because not all boats have cameras and not all footage is reviewed. The deaths are a failure from both the leaders of the fishing industry and the Government and undermine the social license of the industry, and puts international exports at risk.”

In December, Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders launched a ‘David and Goliath’ court case against the United States’ Government in the US Court of International Trade. The case seeks a ban on the importation of fish from trawl and set net fisheries in Māui dolphin habitat, because New Zealand’s fisheries rules fail to comply with the US bycatch rules and its Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“For decades, successive governments have failed Māui and Hector’s dolphins,” says Mrs Rose. Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders is calling on the National-led coalition government to exclude trawl and set nets from Māui and Hector’s habitat - out to 100m deep and 20 nautical miles and fund a transition for affected fishers to dolphin friendly fishing methods.

This will protect both dolphins and other non-target species. Currently trawling is allowed within two nautical miles of shore.

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