frogblog

In the 1970s New Zealand started to let squid trawlers fish for squid around the subantarctic Auckland Islands. However each year the timing and location of this fishing happens to coincide exactly with the pupping and lactating season for New Zealand sea lions resulting in significant numbers of sea lions being killed in the squid nets. And now the sea lion numbers are declining - 30 percent since the 1980’s. 2000 deaths were caused by the squid industry in the last 25 years, leaving a breading population of only 5000. In 1996 the New Zealand sea lion was listed as a threatened species.

So now each year the Minister of Fisheries gets to decide how many sea lions are allowed to be accidentally killed by fishing so that the population can recover. The Department of Conservation’s draft population management plan recommends that next year the number be 76. But the Minister of Fisheries has set it higher at 81 because the current fisheries act requires him to balance the sea lions’ survival against the economic impact on squid fishers. Which is why Metiria is arguing that the current Fisheries Act isn’t working.

“The Minister has demonstrated why the current law is unsustainable - it has today allowed a by-kill limit that is greater than that recommended to allow the survival of the species.�

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