June 12, 2009 - Wellington
Forest & Bird media release

Forest & Bird on close watch over fishing court case

National conservation organisation Forest & Bird will be watching closely at the start next week of a court case challenging measures to protect endangered Hector's dolphins.

The Federation of Commercial Fishermen and three regional fishing groups are taking the Ministry of Fisheries and previous Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton to court for protecting endangered Hector's and Maui's dolphins.

In a separate development, the Department of Conservation today announced that a Hector's dolphin was reported killed in a commercial fishing net off the east coast of the South Island on May 8.

Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says this latest reported death illustrates the need to extend fishing restrictions rather than weaken them. "The death of another Hector's dolphin in a fishing net demonstrates that current protection measures are inadequate and that fishing still poses a risk to our endangered dolphins."

A judicial review of some of the fishing restrictions announced in May 2008 to protect Hector's and Maui's dolphins begins in the High Court in Wellington on Monday, June 15.

The fishing measures include regional bans on set netting and trawling in some coastal waters. Other measures announced last May include better monitoring of commercial fishing boats, four new marine mammal sanctuaries and the extension of the existing sanctuary off Banks Peninsula.

"The Department of Conservation's monitoring of commercial fishing boats has proven to be highly valuable. It shows that Hector's dolphins get caught in nets where previously the industry has denied responsibility for their deaths. Forest & Bird gives credit to those fishers who are working with the observers and supports the observer programme."

At next week's court case the fishing groups want the fishing restrictions overturned in certain areas, including some measures introduced in May to protect critically endangered Maui's dolphins.

Maui's dolphins - found off the north-west coast of the North Island - are the rarest marine dolphin in the world with just 111 individuals, and are a sub-species of Hector's dolphins. Hector's dolphins number fewer than 8000, down from 21,000-29,000 in the 1970s.

Kirstie Knowles believes the protection measures are critical to halting the decline of the endangered dolphins. "We would like to see the dolphins begin the slow path to population recovery. The measures announced last year are just the minimum to halt decline."

Last year the fishing companies were granted an interim injunction allowing fishing to continue over summer.

The judicial review hearing is expected to last three days.

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