The Ministry of Fisheries announced a limit of 113 sea lion by-catches for the 2009 squid fishery this afternoon. Richard Wells, a fisheries specialist from the Deepwater Group Limited said he was pleased that the Minister’s decision, whilst precautionary, recognised the science. The government is taking a precautionary approach based on science and research.
Wells informed that the concerns of the community around individual sea lion deaths is different and that’s why we are focused on ensuring we do everything practicable to mitigate that small risk to individual sea lions. The squid fishery is New Zealand’s second largest seafood exporter and nearly the entire considerable amount of research that is invested in the fishery is focused on sea lion mitigation.
It si informed that the seafood industry works closely the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Fisheries on managing mitigation. The squid fishery has high observer coverage as well as the best known sea lion mitigation devices in the world with 100 percent use of sea lion exclusion devices (SLEDs).
