DOC says cat disease is threatening Maui and Hector's dolphin

Friday, 19 July 2019

Fisheries New Zealand and Department of Conservation are proposing wide scale fishing restrictions to protect dolphins but a parasite is doing much more damage.

Proposed set net and trawling restrictions could cost the New Zealand fishing industry $350million during five years as a parasite continues to kill endangered dolphins at a rapid rate.

Fisheries New Zealand and Department of Conservation staff are holding public forums around the country, pitching fishing restrictions and a toxoplasma action plan as they prepare an update to the threat management plan for Hector's and Māui dolphins.

Māui dolphins are critically endangered with only an estimated 63 dolphins remaining, Hector's have halved in the past 50 years to about 15,000.

* Māui, Hector's dolphins: Government stands by controversial protection plan

* Government discarded expert advice not to use 'potentially misleading' data about dolphin threat**

Māui's are now confined to the west of the North Island.

Fisheries and DOC staff spoke to about 50 people at the Invercargill Civic Theatre on Thursday.

DOC's research estimates 334 Hector's and two Māuis succumbe to the toxoplasma parasite each year.

DOC estimated set nets and inshore trawling kill 58 Hector's a year and one Māui every 10 years.

DOC and Fisheries plan to extend the commercial and recreational set net ban in Te Waewae bay from four nautical miles offshore to seven or up to ten.

An extension to seven nautical miles at Te Waewae bay would be part of DOC's 'option two' proposal for fishing restrictions around the South Island.

This option would close an additional 6000 square kilometres for set netting and 6500sqm for trawlers around the island.

An 'option three' proposal would protect an additional three nautical miles out from Te Waewae bay and a large stretch of coast line from Akaroa down to Glenavy in south Canterbury.

DOC marine species threat manager Ian Angus, who was at the meeting, said toxoplasma might be enough to drive the Māui population to zero.

'Even bringing fisheries threats to zero won't be enough for Māui,' Angus said.

The parasite can only reproduce in the digestive system of a cat.

DOC documents say people contribute to the spread of the disease when they allowed cats to roam, flushed kitty litter and did not control feral populations.

According to DOC, up to one-third of people carry the parasite, but most never develop symptoms.

When cat droppings enter a water-way, wastewater treatment does not kill the parasite and when the contaminated water entered the ocean, the disease infected dolphins, particularly reproducing-aged females.

The sessions are pre-empting an update to the threat management plan for māui and hector's dolphins.

DOC and Fisheries are in the process of updating their threat management plan.

Their proposed vision statement for the plan is 'New Zealand's hector's and māui dolphin populations are resilient and thriving throughout their natural range'.

DOC and Fisheries are proposing a toxoplasmosis action plan.

They say the disease is a significant human-caused threat to the dolphins.

But the bulk off the proposed plans focuses on restricting fishing.