Tuesday 31 January 2012

Fishers take reporting responsibility seriously

While any fishing-related death of marine mammals is deeply regrettable, the public can be assured that fishers take their environmental responsibilities seriously, says New Zealand Seafood Industry Council chief executive Peter Bodeker following the recent mortality of a dolphin off the coast of Taranaki.

A fisherman working on the west coast of the north island accidentally caught a dolphin. He was fishing within the permitted area, just north of Cape Egmont. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has put out a statement late this afternoon advising it was likely a Maui’s dolphin.

“No one working on the water wants to see any of these creatures hurt. The fisherman cooperated fully with MAF in reporting the death and fulfilled all of his legal responsibilities by recording and reporting the incident and returning the animal to the sea,” said Mr Bodeker.

As an industry we are committed to sustainable fishing and part of that is minimising by catch and ensuring responsible reporting when these rare incidents do occur. The information from the dolphin mortality is important and will be fed into MAF and the Department of Conservation’s work around Maui and Hector’s dolphins.

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