Fishing company pulls boat after four endangered sea lion deaths

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

There are less than 12,000 New Zealand sea lions left . (File photo).

Four endangered sea lions have been killed by a fishing vessel trawling for squid off the remote Auckland Islands.

It brings the total deaths of the New Zealand sea lions - or rāpoka - to five this year. They are one of the rarest sea lion species, with just 12,000 left.

Seafood company Sanford told Stuff that two of their vessels were responsible for the deaths, with one boat killing four creatures.

The vessel was pulled immediately from the southern squid fishery, which is more than 500km from Bluff. The skipper and crew were 'extremely upset'.

Last year, a New Zealand sea lion breeding colony was established at Stewart Island.

WWF's Livia Esterhazy says the government must make a commitment to save sea lions.

* Sea lions on the verge of establishing first breeding colony on mainland NZ in 200 years

* Shot sea lion suffers 'slow and painful death' on Catlins beach

* Critically-endangered sea lion drowns in squid net south of New Zealand**

A spokeswoman said the company was taking an 'ultra-cautious approach' and keeping the vessel out of the area.

'The recent spate of sea lion captures in one area of the squid fishery has been shocking to us at Sanford. We have taken an extraordinary set of actions as a result,' she said.

'When the five captures happened in quick succession, we pulled all Sanford vessels out of the entire fishing area, regardless of whether they had captured a sea lion or not, while we assessed the situation.'

Government observers were on the boats - and the company was using Sea Lion Exclusion Devices, an escape hatch built into the nets, she said.

'Right now, we don't know what could have caused this and the investigation into this situation is ongoing,' she said. 'We are committed to sustainable fishing. Our ethos is to catch fish sustainably without harming endangered species. That is why we are taking this so seriously.'

The Auckland Islands are the main breeding ground for sea lions, and a sanctuary, but the mammals cross into the commercial southern squid trawl fishery (SQU6T) while foraging for food.

They become entangled in fishing nets and lines and drown. Trawlers are required to use the exclusion devices and Fisheries NZ say that has slashed the death rate.

Later this year Fisheries NZ will develop a new 'operational plan' for the fishery, but conservation groups like WWF New Zealand have questioned how effective the exclusion devices are.

WWF chief executive Livia Esterhazy said the 'by-catch of endangered species is one of the biggest issues facing New Zealand fishing.'

Endangered albatross and dolphin have also been caught in trawl and set nets. Four Hector's dolphin died off the east coast in December and five Antipodean albatross, and one Gibson's albatross, were caught up in long lines over the summer.

'The fact that five New Zealand sea lions, a nationally critically species, were caught in squid trawl nets means something is going wrong,' Esterhazy said.

WWF is calling for more research and greater action by Fisheries NZ. 'Surely, this latest tragedy is a wake-up call for the industry and the Government?

'A first step is for companies to take responsibility for the problem, Sanford have done that. We also require ambition and investment, not just Fisheries New Zealand tweaking an operational plan.

'We need to see action to give these species a chance to survive like creating protected areas where the sea lions can roam and forage without encountering trawl nets and investing in fishing methods that pose zero risk to the sealions.'

Fisheries Management director Stuart Anderson said the deaths are disappointing, particularly this early in the season, which runs from late December to June.

'Catching five sea lions this early in a season is unusual – by comparison, last season two sea lions were captured in the whole season, and the season before there were three captures,' he said.

'There is more work to be done to reduce the impacts of fishing on sea lions, and we are always looking to improve the measures we have in place now to avoid interactions…We don't just want the population to stabilise, we want it to thrive.'

The southern squid trawl fishery has been harvested for arrow squid since the late 1970s, but the catch and number of vessels has declined from 63 in 1990 to 17 operating in 2017. In 2016, the export value of the fishery was estimated at $68 million.