Set-netting in Hector s and Maui s dolphin habitat is now an international issue

Set-netting in Hector s and Maui s dolphin habitat is now an international issue

International Union for Conservation of Nature Set up by the United Nations to bring together governments and NGO s to find solutions to conservation issues September 2012 Summit: 576 members voted to ban gill net and trawl net use from the shoreline to the 100 metre depth contour in all areas where Hector's and Maui's dolphins are found New Zealand was the only member to vote against motion

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Political Outfall Labour MP Ruth Dyson "It beggars belief that the New Zealand Government could oppose a motion to protect these incredibly vulnerable dolphins in our own waters. Green Party MP Gareth Hughes has said the Government was putting the interests of a handful of fishers ahead of the safety of threatened dolphins. "Ironically this move will likely damage the reputation of the wider fishing community, fishery exports, and our clean, green brand," he said.

Forest and Bird Gill nets are used by commercial, recreational and customary fishers and are responsible for more than 60% of all known Hector s and Maui s deaths (where the cause of death is known). Gill nets are used to fish in coastal waters where these dolphins live. Dolphins, seabirds and other endangered marine mammals get tangled in these nets and drown. A 2008 study by NIWA, the Ministry of Fisheries and fishing industry representatives estimated between 110 and150 Hector s dolphins are killed in commercial gill nets every year. The study found that Hector s dolphins have a very high risk of extinction unless restrictions are placed on commercial fishing,

Environmental Defence Society EDS calls for urgent action to halt the catastrophic decline in Maui s Dolphin numbers The Environmental Defence Society has slammed the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Conservation for proposing weak and inadequate measures to protect the world s rarest marine mammal. In its submission on the review of the Maui s dolphin Threat Management Plan, filed yesterday, EDS called for complete removal of all key known human threats to the dolphin to save it sliding swiftly to extinction.

Greenpeace When the Yangtze River dolphin went extinct people all over the world were shocked and dismayed - but now New Zealand could become the first country to oversee the extinction of a marine dolphin in over 50 years. The measures in place so far, and the current proposal by the Ministry of Primary Industries, fall far short of these expert recommendations.

NABU International Foundation for Nature

World Wildlife fund Take action to help save Maui's and Hector's dolphins How you can help save the dolphins MOST URGENTLY: Call for a complete gillnet (set net and drift net) ban in waters up to 100 metres deep around the New Zealand coast.

Letter to John Key WWF letter signed by 50 national and international organisations October 24 th The motion urged the New Zealand government to expand the areas of protection from gillnetting and trawling to cover the entire range of the Maui s and Hector s dolphins, recognised by experts as being the 100m depth contour. This motion also called on the New Zealand government to immediately increase the level of monitoring and enforcement by requiring 100 percent observer coverage on any gillnet or trawling vessels allowed to operate in any part of the range of Hector's and Maui's dolphins until such bans can be implemented; and to report such action and monitoring and enforcement results.

Change.org Recent independent expert opinion has again confirmed that gill netting and trawling is by far the greatest threat to Maui s and Hector s dolphins. In line with urgent recommendations made by the IUCN in September 2012, we urge the New Zealand government to afford Maui s and Hector s dolphins immediate full protection against gill netting and trawling throughout their habitat to avert their extinction. This means a ban of these fishing methods, and effective management of all other threats, in all waters up to a depth of 100 meters, including harbours. How can a government condone wiping out an entire species for the protection of an industry? Surely they can find another method of fishing that doesn't harm these few remaining dolphins... The world is watching NZ. 14,800 signatures

Radio New Zealand 71,000 submissions received on the Maui s dolphin threat management plan. Highest ever received on a topic by MPI.