Hon Pete Hodgson
Minister of Fisheries
Hon Sandra Lee
Minister of Conservation
1 March 2001 Media Statement
Canterbury fishermen asked to help prevent dolphin deaths
Canterbury recreational fishermen have been asked to help prevent the deaths of the endangered Hector’s dolphin by
stopping using set nets.
Minister of Conservation Sandra Lee and Minister of Fisheries Pete Hodgson are alarmed at the growing number of
accidental deaths of Hector’s dolphins caught in recreational set nets.
“In the last six weeks, four Hector’s dolphin have been found with marks consistent with entanglement in set nets,
including one recovered from a recreational set net,” the ministers said. “Four dead dolphins in six weeks is simply not
acceptable. Low reproductive rates make the Hector’s dolphin population particularly vulnerable to any additional deaths
from human causes such as set netting.”
Investigation of the dolphin deaths indicates that all have resulted from recreational rather than commercial set
netting.
The ministers are asking recreational fishermen to stop set netting from north of the Waiau River to just south of the
Waitaki River, including within the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary. Recreational set netting is usually allowed
in the sanctuary from 1 March until 30 September.
The ministers said the number of dolphin deaths this year had prompted the Government to regulate for a temporary ban on
recreational set netting in the area described.
"These regulations will be ready in about a month. In the meantime we are asking recreational fishers to stop using set
nets voluntarily."
Recreational set netters in Canterbury have already responded positively to voluntary dolphin protection measures
including codes of practice, education programmes and area closures.
Hector’s dolphins are found only in New Zealand’s waters and are one of the world’s rarest marine dolphins. In December
1999 the Minister of Conservation declared them a threatened species.
ENDS