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Black Cat Cruises chief executive Paul Milligan said he welcomed the new measures announced yesterday, which were focused more on the North Island but he said there was always room for more protections.

Paul Milligan

“We’re obviously concerned about our own backyard and there’s an area to the south east of Banks Peninsula that is still open to fishing,” he said.

“It’s bounded by two areas that are close so we’re concerned it will push fishing more into that open area and increase risks to the Hector’s. So, we’d like to see more but at least it’s not the status quo.”

The new protections would require a change in fishing methods to look after native Hector’s and Māui dolphins, minister of fisheries Stuart Nash and minister of conservation Eugenie Sage announced yesterday.

“Hector’s dolphins are nationally vulnerable with about 15,000 in New Zealand’s waters. Māui dolphins are critically endangered, with only about 63 left,” Sage said.

There were more than 15,000 submissions and a 78,000 signature petition on options for improving protection as part of a Threat Management Plan review, she said.

“Fishing activities and the disease toxoplasmosis pose the biggest threats to Hector’s and Māui dolphins,” Nash said.

“The changes will significantly increase fishing restrictions in dolphin habitats, focussing on methods with the highest potential to affect dolphins. However, I want to be clear – fishing vessels will be able to keep fishing if they move to different methods. There is new support from government to help them make that transition.”

The new fishing measures take effect from October and include a nationwide ban on drift netting, extension of current set-net closures, and the creation of new areas closed to set-netting, in the North and South Islands.

Otago University zoology professor Liz Slooten recently told the Ticker that there was evidence that the value of Hector’s dolphins to the economy was about $25m to tourism with another $3m to $6m in associated activity, and equal to about 476 jobs.

“Previously the emphasis in the debate was about the cost of loss of fishing jobs but now we know there is more money to be lost in not protecting dolphins,” Slooten said.

She said the protection still didn’t go far enough because Hector’s dolphins only breed once every two to three years, so any death in the population was hard to replace. Their numbers were about one third of what they were 50 years ago.

The Government said yesterday that other measures were planned such as doubling marine mammal protection areas across the west coast of the North Island and around Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula to 37,286square kilometres of protected areas.

New permits for seismic surveying and seabed mining would be prohibited in the expanded marine mammal protection areas, and seabed mining would also be prohibited in the Te Rohe o Te Whānau Puha Whale Sanctuary area off Kaikōura.

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