The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand is seeking public feedback on new management settings for the squid fishery around the Auckland Islands to better manage interactions with sea lions.
The islands, which are more than 300 miles south of South Island, are home to the largest breeding colony of New Zealand sea lions. With a population of only 10,000, these mammals are classified as “Nationally Critical.”
"The commercial southern squid trawl fishery (SQU6T) overlaps with the foraging range of sea lions that breed at the Auckland Islands, which can lead to the accidental capture of sea lions in fishing gear,” said Dave Turner, director of fisheries management at MPI.
"We need to balance the importance of the squid fishery – which employs hundreds of New Zealanders and brought in NZD 68 million (USD 49.9 million, EUR 42.3 million) in export earnings last year – with the need to conserve these important New Zealand mammals,” he said.
To help ensure that it gets good information about how the fishery is operating, more than 80 percent of vessels operating in the area have been carrying government observers for the past three years.
"It's important to note that fishing is just one of a number of threats sea lions are facing. The biggest threat is disease. We need to look at all the threats and do what is right for the sea lions. That's why MPI and DOC (Department of Conservation) are implementing the New Zealand Sea lion/rāpoka threat management plan,” said Turner.
Published on the DOC website, the proposed plan aims to halt the decline of the New Zealand sea lion population within five years and ensure the population is stable or increasing within 20 years.
Consisting of four work streams: engagement, direct mitigation, targeted research and evaluation, the plan’s overriding goal is for the sea lions to achieve “Not Threatened” status.
"It's great to see that sea lion deaths have reduced over the last decade since all squid trawlers have fitted approved sea lion exclusion devices (SLEDs) in their nets. However, there is plenty more work to do. We don't just want the population to stabilize, we want it to thrive. I'd encourage everyone interested in New Zealand sea lions and this fishery to read the proposals and let us know what they think," said Turner.
The draft squid fishing plan has been welcomed by WWF-New Zealand, which has called for precautionary action to save the mammals.
“New Zealand sea lions are the rarest sea lion in the world,” said WWF-New Zealand campaigner David Tong. “They are a national treasure – but for too long the government has made unscientific assumptions in deciding how much fishing is allowed in their habitat. The recognition of uncertainty over the impact of fishing in this draft plan is a welcome change.”
Tong said a precautionary approach that reduces the number of sea lions allowed to be accidentally killed each year is needed, as is investment in research to better understand the impact of fishing.
Submissions on the proposed changes close on 7 September 2017.
