Chief executive of the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, Owen Symmans said it was great news all round that no Hector’s or Maui’s dolphins were caught by fishermen during a government observer programme.
None of the endangered Hector’s or Maui’s dolphins were caught by fishermen during the 963 day long Ministry of Fisheries observer programme aimed at recording interactions with dolphins.
“This is very good for news for the dolphins and the industry,” said Mr Symmans.
“There were no captures of endangered dolphins at all despite the 5000 sightings of Hector’s or Maui’s dolphins recorded. These observations show a high density of Hector’s dolphins with numerous sightings. It suggests to us that previous population estimates are not correct.”
Fishermen did not expect to sight Maui’s dolphins given they were operating outside their known habitat.
Mr Symmans said reliable data is crucial for the industry, government and the public in order to make informed decisions about managing endangered species.
However, Mr Symmans did say it is disappointing that the unintentional capture of other species, particularly some protected yellow-eyed penguins were observed.
“Fishermen are working hard on reducing by-catch. We’re actively engaged in a development programme with the Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation to find solutions,” he said.
Backgrounder
The data released today by the Ministry of Fisheries shows:
`32;No endangered dolphin captures or entanglements in spite of almost 5000 sightings of Hectors or Maui’s dolphins.
`32;More than 963 days of fishing (both set netting and inshore trawling) were observed. Observer days are the total number of days that observers were working on the water, ie if there are 10 observers working on vessels over five days that equals 50 observer days. Assuming an average of three tows per observer day on a trawler and one set per day for set netting, then there were 2,013 tows and 292 sets. A total of up to 2,305 fishing events in 963 days.
`32;This results in a rate of 0.0368 (just under 4%) captures per fishing event (85 species caught over 2,305 events).
