20 November 2006

Steve Halley,

Manager,

Environmental Standards,

Ministry of Fisheries,

ASB House, 101-103 The Terrace

PO Box PO Box 1020

WELLINGTON

halleys@fish.govt.nz

Dear Steve,

SUBMISSION : PROPOSED INTERIM MEASURES FOR HECTOR’S DOLPHINS - INITIAL POSITION PAPER

Thank you for the opportunity to provide written comments on the proposals contained in the Initial Position Paper (IPP), to introduce interim measures to mitigate the impacts of fishing on Hector’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori) and Maui’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui).

The New Zealand Marine Sciences Society (NZMSS) is a scientific society affiliated to the Royal Society of New Zealand. It comprises over 250 scientists, managers, policy makers, and students working in all aspects of marine science in New Zealand and overseas. Society members work for universities, Crown Research Institutes, and other research providers, as well as for various central and local government departments, agencies and non-governmental organizations. Our members, therefore, have a wide range of views and experiences on most issues confronting the management of New Zealand’s marine environment. Our elected nineteen member Council has the task of providing comments on marine science issues in the public realm, including government policy and marine conservation. This submission represents a consensus view of the NZMSS Council concerning the scientific issues related to the IPP. It provides recommendations that the Society considers would provide immediate and real solutions to mitigate the further decline of this endemic and culturally significant species.

The New Zealand Marine Science Society congratulates the Ministry of Fisheries for acknowledging the impacts of fishing on Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins and taking steps to mitigate these impacts and for endeavouring to develop a Threat Management Plan for Hector’s dolphins jointly with the Department of Conservation.

The New Zealand Marine Science Society recommends that:

1. Five coastal areas be designated as Hector’s dolphin protection zones:

· West coast North Island - (Maunganui Bluffs - New Plymouth). It is proposed that area be extended south to New Plymouth on the basis of the latest research data on Maui’s dolphin distribution (Slooten et al. 2005 a,b)

· East coast South Island - (Clarence River - Waitaki River)

· West coast South Island - (Kahurangi Point - Jackson Bay) Protection zone not specified in the IPP. Suggested zone based on Slooten et al. (2004).

· Curio Bay/Porpoise Bay, Catlins coast - (Fortrose to Tautuku Peninsula). Noted as a hot spot in the IPP.

· Te Waewae Bay - (Sand Hill Point - Pahia Point).

2. All commercial and recreational set netting is prohibited in coastal waters less than 100m depth (including river mouths, estuaries and lagoons) in the above areas throughout the year.
3. All trawlers operating within depths shallower than 100m in these areas have electronic monitoring or fisheries observers on board.
4. Monitoring and enforcement of these measures takes place and appropriate offences and penalties are imposed under the Fisheries Act 1996.
5. Maintain these interim measures until the completion of the Threat Management Plan for Hector’s dolphins and resulting mitigation measures are implemented.

In addition we recommend:

• The Ministry of Fisheries actively promotes recreational set net CoPs and the need for appropriate set net practice outside the designated set net closed areas.
• The Ministry of Fisheries actively promotes and ensures commercial fisher’s are aware of relevant CoPs and ensure they comply with the various components as well as discuss the possibility for including further measures to mitigate dolphin bycatch by trawlers outside the designated set net closed areas.
• That for both regulatory and voluntary measures, well designed monitoring programmes (potentially utilising on-board video) be conducted by the Ministry of Fisheries to evaluate their effectiveness. This data is urgently needed to provide an objective assessment of CoPs in New Zealand fisheries.

These recommendations were developed from the following principles:

• Hector’s dolphin is ranked as nationally vulnerable by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the subspecies Maui’s dolphin is ranked as nationally critical by DOC and critically endangered by the IUCN. It would be prudent to use the precautionary principal and implement measures that will provide the highest probability of preventing further decline and possible extinction of Hector’s dolphins until the Threat Management Plan is completed and implemented, expected to have been completed by the end of 2005 (Ministry of Fisheries 2005a).
• In fisheries, industry codes of practice have become a popular mechanism to deal with specific environmental issues. However, Codes of Practice (CoPs) have not proven to be very effective (e.g. Northridge 1996, Ministry of Fisheries 2002, 2005b).
• Threats to Hector’s dolphins come from both recreational and commercial fishing, consequently, interim mitigation measures should apply to both groups. Simple rules should be applied to all fishers (recreational and commercial). This provides a more consistent and simple message to communicate and will be cost effective and straightforward for fisheries compliance.
• Measures recommended will potentially help maintain food supply for the Hector’s and other associated nearshore foraging species.
• Measures recommended will also help reduce by-catch of other species including protected shags and endangered yellow eyed penguins (Taylor 2000).
• Hector’s dolphins appear to be limited to inshore waters of less than 100 m depth, due to their observed habitat preference for these shallower, inshore waters (Slooten et al. 2006).

We look forward to receiving the response to submissions received and hearing the resulting actions taken.

Yours Sincerely,

- Signature file -

Dr Alison MacDiarmid

Secretary

New Zealand Marine Sciences Society

c/o NIWA

Private Bag 14-901

Kilbirnie

Wellington

Information about the society can be found at http://nzmss.rsnz.org/

References

Ministry of Fisheries 2002. New focus on fishing cheats. The Bite News Summer 2001/02. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington.
“ A combination of factors has led MFish to harden its approach to enforcing recreational fishing rules. ….The other factor is that voluntary compliance by recreational fishers is just not working.
http://www.fish.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/4283F797-1D7E-42E8-B942-2B4FD27154BE/0/bite_summer01.pdf?&MSHiC=65001&L=10&W=voluntary+codes%20&Pre=%3Cspan%20class%3d'SearchHighlight'%3E&Post=%3C/span%3E

Ministry of Fisheries 2005a. Briefing for the Minister of Fisheries
http://www.fish.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/DE8C2980-3C11-4859-B600-D4DC84379172/0/bim2005.pdf

Ministry of Fisheries 2005b. Press release.
6 May 2005 - Minister calls commercial squid fishers back to port to save sea birds.
“The Minister has today directed the Ministry of Fisheries to place observers on all vessels known to be not following industry best practice. - "We introduced voluntary codes because industry said they were willing to meaningfully co-operate in reducing the needless death of sea birds," said Mr Benson-Pope. "The squid fishing industry has had every opportunity to act responsibly and despite some good operators the majority have chosen not to. These measures are the inevitable consequence of their poor behaviour."

"Without that commitment from industry the government has no other recourse but to bring in regulation," said Mr Benson-Pope. …Mr Benson-Pope said the fishing industry is on notice: "I will be investigating other fisheries operating under voluntary codes to ensure those codes are working."
http://www.fish.govt.nz/enz/Press/Press+releases+2005/May+2005/Minister+calls+commercial+squid+fishers+back+to+port+to+save+sea+birds.htm?&MSHiC=65001&L=10&W=voluntary+codes%20&Pre=%3Cspan%20class%3d'SearchHighlight'%3E&Post=%3C/span%3E

Northridge, S. P. 1996. A review of marine mammal bycatch observer schemes with recommendations for best practice. JNCC report 219. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.

Slooten, E., Dawson, S.M. and Rayment, W.J. 2004. Aerial surveys for coastal dolphins: Abundance of Hector's dolphins off the South Island west coast, New Zealand. Marine Mammal Science 20: 117-130.

Slooten, E., Dawson, S.M., Rayment, W.J. and Childerhouse, S.J. 2005a. Distribution of Maui’s dolphin, Cephalorhynchus hectori maui. New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2005/28, 21p. Published by Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington.

Slooten, E., Dawson, S.M., Rayment, W.J. and Childerhouse, S.J. 2005b. A new abundance estimate for Maui’s dolphin: What does it mean for managing this critically endangered species? Biological Conservation 128: 576-581.

Slooten, E., Rayment, W.J. and Dawson, S.M. 2006. Offshore distribution of Hector’s dolphins at Banks Peninsula: Is the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary large enough? New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 40(2): 333-343.

Slooten, L., Taylor. G. 2000. Cephalorhynchus hectori. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 05 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is endangered.

Taylor, G. 2000. Action plan for seabird conservation in New Zealand. Part A: Threatened seabirds. Threatened Species Occasional Publication No. 16. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.