Dolphin plan ‘path to extinction’

Advocates are calling on the Government to ban set nets and trawl nets to protect Hector’s dolphins from extinction.

Fisheries New Zealand has been consulting on protection options for South Island Hector’s dolphins, with submissions closing at 5pm yesterday.

However, dolphin advocates say Fisheries officials’ recommendations are ‘‘fundamentally flawed’’ and allow up to 80 deaths of Hector’s dolphins every year. There are about 15,000 of the nationally vulnerable dolphins remaining.

The Government previously extended the bans on commercial and recreational use of set nets, but decided to consult on trawl closures off the north, east and south coasts of the South Island.

The proposals include a bycatch reduction plan to work with fishers to avoid all dolphin deaths, while allowing fishing to continue where possible.

It also includes expansion of trawl gear restrictions in Tasman and Golden bays, Pegasus Bay, Canterbury Bight to Timaru, and Te Waewae Bay, and a further closure to set net fishing around Banks Peninsula.

Mā ui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders chairwoman Christine Rose said the consultation should consider the risk of displaced fishing, as well as fishing in areas without protection from trawling at all.

She said the bycatch reduction plan was voluntary.

‘‘Instead of actually protecting the dolphins this would manage them to extinction, because it allows up to 80 Hector’s dolphin deaths a year,’’ she said.

Rose said the options suggested were non-binding and a reflection of the Government’s inertia in stopping dolphins getting caught in nets and drowning. Fisheries New Zealand fisheries management director Emma Taylor said it had taken comprehensive steps to protect Hector’s dolphins as a precious taonga.

‘‘It’s important to note that the proposals currently under consultation follow already significant measures in place to protect Hector’s dolphins,’’ she said.

She said it was not correct to characterise the proposed bycatch reduction plan as voluntary, as many of the measures under the proposals would be mandatory, including the phased introduction of cameras on all fishing vessels that pose a potential risk.