The Ministry for Primary Industries this week released its latest tally of non-target species captured by the New Zealand fishing industry. But it’s already old news, and bad news at that, says Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders NZ.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders founder and Chair, Christine Rose, says MPI’s reporting regime is a farce because the most recent ‘update’ is from April to June. “The industrial fishing industry kills everything in its wake, and delays in reporting mean the public can have little confidence about the timeliness and rigour of the Ministry’s response”.

“This is really clear with Hector’s dolphin deaths. Four Hector’s dolphins were killed by trawlers in the quarter, with a total of 15 Hector’s killed by the fishing industry since Prime Minister Christopher Luxon took office. That’s 15 too many, including mothers and their suckling calves”, says Rose.

“These are just a small portion of the 149 total marine mammals reported captured by the fishing industry in the April - June quarter, plus a huge 630 seabirds.”

Graphs provided by MPI show that non-target, endangered sea animals continue to be captured and killed at unsustainable and unacceptable levels. More marine mammals were killed in the April - June quarter than in any other recent year. These deaths were almost double what they were five years ago for example. At least two hundred more seabirds were also captured by the fishing industry than similar previous timeframes. This reporting quarter, it also included 139 spotted shags killed in one trawl event. Spotted shags are almost extinct in the Auckland region, and face extinction across the country because of avoidable, unnecessary pressures such as these, says Rose.

The number of seals reported captured in fishing gear went from 45 in the previous quarter to 137 between April and June. Rose says these figures are also all likely to be underreported since not all boats have cameras and not all camera footage gets reviewed.

Rose says “the fishing methods that kill Hector’s dolphins also kill other marine mammals - seals, sea lions, other dolphin species including orca, large whales, turtles and seabirds.”

“The NZ Government must protect Hector’s and Māui dolphins from the fishing industry, and in doing so, will protect other species too”.

“Otherwise, even with delays in reporting, the bad news will continue.”

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