Dolphin protest targets prime minister’s electorate office

Saturday, 14 September 2024

In a protest outside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Botany office, Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders called on the “lacklustre Luxon-led coalition” to take action and create an exclusion zone to protect the dolphins from the fishing industry.

The death of 15 rare Hector’s dolphins has prompted environmentalists to protest outside the office of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday.

Advocacy group Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders is pointing to the increase in marine mammal deaths reported by the fishing industry since the roll-out of cameras on fishing boats.

A Hector's dolphin killed by a fishing vessel in January 2024.

It's estimated there are 15,000 Hector's and fewer than 50 Māui dolphins remaining.

The group wants to see cameras on vessels that use set nets and more protections out to a depth of 100 metres and 20 nautical miles in the dolphins’ habitat.

That’s consistent with the demands of world-leading scientists and the International Whaling Commission and International Union for Conservation of Nature, chairperson Christine Rose said.

“It's worth noting that many of the set-netters still don't have cameras — only 25 of 154 set-netters have cameras — so deaths attributable to this fishing method are inevitably understated.”

Rose said two of the Hector's dolphins reported killed came from a tiny Otago sub-population in the last year.

“[This] is devastating for that sub-population where there are only around 41 individuals.

“Luxon needs to take responsibility and be accountable for the dolphins being killed under his watch. He needs to step up.”

The Department of Conservation lists the Hector’s dolphin as a nationally vulnerable species.

Fisheries Minister Shane Jones was approached for comment.

The rare and vulnerable Hector's dolphin is endemic to New Zealand.

He has previously said any closure of fisheries must balance the livelihoods of fishers with a need to protect the dolphins.

The protest, at Luxon’s Botany electorate office at 12.45pm on Saturday, will kickstart a new campaign to protect the dolphins.

The group’s ‘Death Watch’ mortality tracker keeps a rolling record of Māui and Hector’s deaths and highlights trends in dolphin deaths.

Three of the deaths occurred in set nets and 12 by trawler.

There were five deaths in 2023 attributed to fishing vessels, and two in 2022.

Last month, a new report produced by Cawthron Institute revealed 109 marine mammal bycatch events reported by fisheries observers between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.

The reports included common dolphins, dusky dolphins, Hector's, an orca, sea lions and 102 fur seals, and included five captures within marine mammal sanctuaries.

The conservationists want the Government to remove “extinction-level threats” from all Hector’s habitat and for regional councils — particularly Environment Canterbury where the majority of deaths have occurred — to protect the mammals in its regional coastal plans.

Rose said the Government’s Threat Management Plan for Māui and Hector’s aims for near-zero bycatch, and recovery of the species throughout their range, but trawling and set nets within their habitat makes that an “impossible” goal.

Earlier this year Luxon said he believed the cancellation of SailGP racing in Lyttleton Harbour following dolphin sightings spoke to New Zealand’s “obstruction economy” and its level of “red tape”.

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