Endangered sealions sacrificed in the name of research

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

Fishing crews were asked to let endangered New Zealand sealions drown in the name of research.

The instruction came from Fisheries Ministry officials during a shortened fishing season described by Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson as a shambles.

Official Information Act disclosures show a series of bungles over attempts to estimate the number of sealion deaths caused by squid trawling around the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.

An operational plan agreed by the Fisheries Ministry and the Squid Fishery Management Company fell apart within a fortnight of the February 1 start of the squid season.

Mr Hodgson pulled the plug on the season after a high number of sealion deaths, prompting industry complaints of million-dollar losses.

Some squid boats had left port before ministry observers could get on board, and crew were confused about how sealion escape devices were to be used - or not used, depending on instructions.

The equipment, called Sleds (sealion exclusion devices), are like giant grilles in the bellies of nets. Using water flow, they eject large animals through the tops of the nets so they do not drown.

But the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society and other conservation groups suspect sealions are so badly injured getting through the devices that they die anyway.

The only way to prove this was to ask fishing crews to put up "cover nets" to recapture the sealions after they had escaped - spelling almost certain death. Autopsies would then gauge the extent of injuries.

Some boats were asked not to use the devices, so the fleet's sealion "strike rate" could be estimated. Official papers show that ministry observers on trawlers became uncomfortable about a failure of skippers to follow instructions about non-use of the devices.

Squid company chief executive Richard Cade said it was a crazy situation.

"We could have ejected most sealions if we had caught them, but because of the Department of Conservation and the ministry, we weren't allowed to do that."

Mr Cade said 23 sealions were definitely drowned in nets during the shortened season.

But the industry disputed the official estimate of 79 on which Mr Hodgson based his decision to close the fishery last week.

The industry would lose millions of dollars from the early closure, said Mr Cade.

But Forest and Bird researcher Barry Weeber said the fishers' failure to follow an agreed plan meant crucial research was not done.

"It shows basically that the industry can't be trusted. Any arrangement has to be regulatory."

The papers show Mr Hodgson is just as unhappy, calling this season "a shambles".

Senior ministry fisheries management adviser Kim Drummond defended the research plan, saying it was important to establish whether the escape devices were killing sealions or saving them.

Mr Weeber said sealion deaths from squid fishing appeared to be almost doubling every year, and this season's total could be as high as 91.

"It's been horrifying us over the past couple of years."

New Zealand sealions, formerly known as Hooker's sealions, are listed as endangered and number about 13,000. They live only in New Zealand waters.

nzherald.co.nz/environment