Māui And Hector’s Dolphin Defenders Take On US Government For Failing To Uphold Bycatch Limits

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders has, on World Wildlife Conservation day, launched a lawsuit against the United States Government in the US Court of International Trade.

The case seeks to enforce the US Marine Mammal Protection Act, which requires the US government to ban seafood imports from any foreign fishery that excessively harms marine mammals.

New Zealand fishing fleets are driving the critically endangered Māui dolphin to extinction, with estimates that only approximately 30 to 50 individuals remain. The fleets operating along the West Coast of New Zealand’s North Island don’t intentionally catch Māui dolphins, but the marine mammals get caught when fishers target commercial seafood species in large nets that hang in the water for days or drag through the sea, scooping up everything in their path.

Even if fishers free dolphins from nets before drowning, they can suffer serious health impacts from not being able to surface to breathe because nets confine them.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders founder and Chair, Christine Rose, says “There are fewer than 50 mature Māui dolphins in existence and the population continues to decline. The measures that have been put in place by New Zealand are not enough to pause, let alone reverse, the Māui dolphins’ trend toward extinction. And they are not comparable to the United States’ standards.”

“It’s also not just Māui that the New Zealand government is failing, but also North Island Hector’s dolphins, common dolphins (also facing extinction), orca, baleen whales, seals and turtles which are all killed in the North Island Māui habitat by the fishing industry.”

“No dolphin should be killed in a fishing net. Māui and Hector’s dolphins used to be the most common dolphins around New Zealand’s coast. Both the US and the NZ Governments must take action to protect Māui dolphins now.”

“Successive governments have failed Māui and Hector’s so their numbers continue to decline. Māui and other small Hector’s subpopulations, which are genetically and geographically distinct, continue to be driven to extinction. We’re calling on the US Government to enforce its own rules, and to prohibit the importation of fish from fisheries within Māui habitat.”

“Māui dolphins are the world’s rarest marine dolphin. That’s unacceptable. We’re hoping this court case will drive better protection which Māui - and Hector’s so desperately need”.

https://www.mauihectorsdolphins.org.nz/

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