29 August 2007

No evidence to justify Minister's proposals says Seafood Industry

Fishermen and regional New Zealand communities will suffer serious economic loss if the Marine Mammal Sanctuaries proposed by the Minister of Conservation go ahead, says New Zealand Seafood Industry Council chief executive Owen Symmans. “The evidence in the document clearly does not support such drastic measures.

"Fishermen, like everyone else, care about protecting dolphins. But they also want to know that reason, science and common sense are involved, rather than misinformation and emotive rhetoric before they are told to give up their livelihoods and businesses."

Commercial fishers go to great lengths to avoid catching dolphins, with the use of technology and surveillance of nets, as well as closing various areas to set-netting and trawling, Mr Symmans said.

The impact of the proposed Marine Mammal Sanctuary on the west coast of the North Island would put 200 or so set net fishermen operating in the harbours on that coast out of business for no good reason. There is no verified evidence to show that Maui’s dolphins enter these harbours. Certainly, fishermen have never seen them within the harbours.

Likewise, the extension of this sanctuary to 12 nautical miles is unjustified because Maui’s dolphins are typically found in shallower waters.

There is a lot of misinformation about the impact of set netting on Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins. Here are the facts:

• Between 1988 and 2003 there were two Maui’s dolphin deaths attributed to net entanglement out of a total of 17 notified deaths.
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• Since 2003, when a ban was established for one nautical mile, there have been no reported net entanglements.
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• Since 1992 there have been 123 confirmed deaths of Hector’s dolphins and only 29 attributed to commercial set netting.
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The industry hopes that logic and reason will be the basis of final decisions, Mr Symmans said.

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