Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton announced that Auckland Island’s squid fishery season this year has resulted in an estimated 10 fewer sea lion deaths compared with last year. He told that in 2007 there were 56 assumed sea lion deaths, while this year there were 46 assumed deaths. According to fisheries observers, who oversaw around half of all fishing activity, 71 seabirds being accidentally caught, including petrels and albatrosses.
Fisheries observers also said that several of these accidental captures were not fatal and the birds were successfully released and considered highly likely to survive. The main season of the $50 million a year squid fishery around the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands (SQU6T) starts from February and last till April or May. New Zealand sea lions eat squid and are at risk of drowning when they chase squid into trawl nets.
Jim Anderton said this year the fishery finished at the end of April, without having come close to the allowable limit. He added that to minimize the potential for harm to seabirds, the authority has introduced mandatory minimum steps that fishing vessels must take to minimise their impact on seabirds. He told that it is very pleasing to see fewer sea lions being caught this season.
According to Jim Anderton the fishing industry had improved its methods for reducing the bycatch of sea lions. He informed that all vessels operating in the fishery are using an approved sea lion exclusion device (SLED) to give sea lions a chance to escape the trawl nets. The government is providing full cooperation to the fishing industry in reducing bycathc of sea lions.
