Sea Shepherd Legal and its co-counsel, Earthrise Law Center, filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Sea Shepherd New Zealand
and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against the US Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, NOAA
Fisheries, and the Treasury Department. These agencies have failed to take legally mandated action to ban imports from
the New Zealand fisheries that are driving the Māui dolphin to extinction.
Victims of bycatch in gillnet and trawl fisheries, fewer than 57 Māui dolphins remain. With the Baiji (the Chinese river
dolphin) presumed to be extinct, the Māui dolphin is likely now the most endangered dolphin in the world.
Scientists agree that the leading threat to Māui dolphins is bycatch and that “[t]he human-caused death of even one
individual would increase the extinction risk” for the species. Yet, New Zealand fisheries continue to use techniques
that ensnare up to at least three Māui dolphins every year.
Notably, the United States plays a big role in the demise of the Māui dolphin. As the second largest importer of New
Zealand seafood caught by fisheries using the type of gear and techniques that kill Māui dolphins, the US shares
responsibility for the impacts of the $1.21 billion industry. The good news is that the US has a unique tool to protect
marine mammals subject to bycatch in foreign fisheries – the “imports provision” of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(MMPA).
The MMPA requires US agencies to prohibit imports from foreign fisheries that fail to prevent bycatch of marine mammals
in line with US standards. There is no question that New Zealand fails to meet such standards in the case of the Māui
dolphin.
In February 2019, Sea Shepherd filed a petition for emergency rulemaking under the MMPA, demanding that the defendant
agencies adhere to their legal mandate and ban the import of seafood from the New Zealand fisheries that utilize the
type of gear and techniques that kill Māui dolphins. Defendants shirked their responsibility and denied Sea Shepherd’s
petition.
“It seems highly unlikely that, despite assurances, New Zealand and the US defendants will come up with a truly
effective plan to halt the killing of Māui dolphins in bycatch” says Brett Sommermeyer, Legal Director for Sea Shepherd
Legal. “Unless and until that happens, banning imports from New Zealand fisheries responsible for killing dolphins is
irrefutably necessary – every day that passes puts this critically endangered species one step closer to extinction,”
emphasizes Sommermeyer.