Captain frees dolphins caught in fishing net off Bay of Plenty coast

The crew were determined not to hurt the dolphins in any way if at all possible. Photo/File

A small pod of dolphins was caught in a fishing net and freed by a fishing vessel off the coast of Tauranga last week.

Sanford corporate communications general manager Fiona MacMillan said on March 23rd one of their vessels, the San Columbia, was purse seine fishing off the Tauranga coast when half a dozen dolphins swam into the net.

"The crew were determined not to hurt the dolphins in any way if at all possible and they set about trying to free them by lowering the sides of the net.

"Unfortunately, this did not encourage the dolphins to swim out, so the skipper faced a tough choice at that point. He either took further steps to try and free the dolphins and risked losing the catch of 30 tonnes of jack mackerel, or he faced the prospect of killing the dolphins.

"He believed that his first priority was to try and save the dolphins. So he made the decision to release one end of the net at the bow and that enabled all the dolphins to swim away, totally unharmed.

"In the process all the jack mackerel accidentally escaped too," she said.

No fish were caught or harmed, but legally Sanford was now required to report the jack mackerel as catch and it counted against the company's annual catch entitlement for this species.

"Costs comes second in a situation like this with Sanford's focus on sustainability."

Sanford supported what the skipper of the San Columbia and his crew did in this situation, Ms MacMillan said.

"The skipper felt that he simply had no viable choice. He believes that any New Zealander in his position would have done the same and Sanford agrees with him."

The skipper was an experienced fisherman who had been fishing for 40 years and he went to a lot of trouble to avoid fishing when dolphins were present, as he had done several times earlier on that day, she said.