Overwhelming support for set net ban to protect dolphins

27 August 2007 - Wellington

Contact: Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles, 04 801 2210, 021 426 984

An overwhelming majority of the public support a ban on set nets and a marine mammal sanctuary to protect the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin.

Public consultation undertaken by Forest & Bird, concentrated in Auckland, Waikato and Northland, has found almost total support for a set net ban (98% support) to protect Maui’s dolphins.

There was also strong support for the establishment of a marine mammal sanctuary off the north-west coast of the North Island, with 96% of respondents supporting a sanctuary to protect Maui’s dolphins.

Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says the strong public support for a set net ban and a marine mammal sanctuary for Maui’s dolphin means the
Government should include these measures in its threat management plan to protect
Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins. The threat management plan is expected to be announced by the Government early this week.

Once found around most of the New Zealand coastline, numbering over 29,000 in the 1970s, Hector’s dolphins are now mainly found around some parts of the South Island and number less than 8000.  They are listed as “endangered” by the IUCN (World Conservation Union), meaning they are at serious risk of extinction. Maui’s dolphin, the North Island sub-species of Hector’s dolphin, is listed as critically endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of species at risk of extinction. Just 111 individuals remain, making them the world’s rarest marine dolphin.

“Set nets are the main threat to Hector’s dolphins, responsible for more than 60% of their deaths in cases where the cause of death is known,” Kirstie Knowles says.  Set nets also kill other vulnerable marine life, including seals, penguins, sharks, rays, other dolphin species and seabirds.

While a set net ban is in place off part of the north-west coast of the North Island, it does not protect Maui’s dolphins across all of the areas where they are found.

“The feedback demonstrates that New Zealanders want this indiscriminate fishing method to be banned, and we urge the Government to acknowledge this when it issues its threat management plan.”

Forest & Bird has received hundreds of responses to its proposal to improve protection of Maui’s dolphins.  A set net ban and marine mammal sanctuaries are also supported by many MPs, city, district and regional councils and other national and international conservation organisations.

“We must act now to remove the threats to these endangered dolphins, or risk pushing them into extinction.  Set nets are the number one killer of Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins and we must ensure they are banned nationwide if we are to adequately protect these endangered marine mammals and other vulnerable marine life.”

All of the fish species targeted by recreational set netters can be caught using other fishing methods that are not as indiscriminate.

Note to Editors

For further information on the Maui’s dolphin marine mammal sanctuary proposal contact Mark Bellingham on 027 338 5721 or 09 302 3903