Dolphin advocates are calling on the Luxon-led Government to better protect Hector’s dolphins after yet another death caused by the trawl industry just a few days ago.

The Department of Conservation ‘Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Incident Database’ updated on Friday (30 August) reveals 15 dolphins killed by the fishing industry this fishing season, since October 2023, which is when the number of onboard cameras increased from less than 10 to more than 100 vessels.

The Ministry for Primary Industries’ Hector’s dolphin Bycatch Reduction Plan requires quarterly reporting and clear accountability to the public, to ‘incentivise and support fishers toward zero bycatch’. Despite these objectives, record numbers of dolphins are being reported killed.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders Chair Christine Rose, says “15 dead dolphins reported in less than a year is a new record. It’s highly likely that these huge numbers were always being killed by the fishing industry, but not reported, until the roll out of cameras on boats”.

“Cameras on boats are revealing their worth, exposing the true impacts of the fishing industry. But it’s the action in light of this information that really matters. The Luxon Government must protect Hector’s and prohibit trawl and set nets in the dolphin range”, says Rose.

Emeritus Professor Dr Liz Slooten, a world expert in Māui and Hector’s dolphins, says “These deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. Since the roll out of cameras on fishing boats, reported fishing industry caused dolphin deaths have gone from two in the 2022 fishing year to 15 so far this fishing year.

The Ministry for Primary Industries needs to come clean about how many boats don’t have cameras, and therefore how many more dolphins are being killed and not reported. What is clear, is that too many dolphins are being killed and action is needed now”.

There is also strong international pressure on the New Zealand government. The International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) and the International Whaling Commission are urging NZ to protect Māui and Hector’s dolphins throughout their range, to eliminate dolphin deaths in gillnet and trawl fisheries. Ongoing dolphin bycatch runs the risk of losing fish exports to the US and Europe.

Rose says even where the cause of death is unknown, in an additional 11 dolphin deaths this fishing year, the fishing industry may be culpable. “Because most set net fishing boats don’t have cameras, there are inevitably deaths caused by the industry but not reported”.

“As we have seen where cameras are installed, there’s a radical switch between unknown causes of death and those proven to be killed by the industry - trawlers in particular”.

Dolphin Defenders and scientists agree, more protection is needed to stop the dolphins speeding towards extinction.

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