A dolphin from an endangered species was found dead at the mouth of the Manukau Harbour days after two boats were seen net trawling in the area.
The North Island Hector's dolphin is the world's smallest marine mammal and only 100 are believed to be left.
World Wildlife Fund New Zealand
has already complained to the Ministries of Fisheries and Conservation about pair trawling in the area. In pair trawling, two vessels drag a net between them, catching everything in the way.
The sound of two boats confuses dolphins and they struggle to swim out of the way.
The organisation wants their main habitat to be made a reserve to help save the endangered species,which is genetically distinct and does not interbreed with the South Island Hector's dolphin.
WWF New Zealand conservation director Chris Howe said yesterday that there were several sightings of boats pair trawling in the area.
"Local trawlers have repeatedly denied that they pair trawl within the dolphin's range, yet last week there was a deluge of sightings of boats pair trawling between Port Waikato and Manukau Harbour," he said.
The dolphin, found on Sunday, appeared to have died two to three days before it was discovered, the same time as the boats were seen trawling within a kilometre of shore.
"When you add this death to the four last year, that represents 5 per cent of the probably population killed in just over a year, and those are just the ones we know about," Mr Howe said.
A proposed ban on set netting in the Hectors' area, four nautical miles from land, includes placing observers on trawl boats but does not include banning trawlers. However, local fishers are appealing against the ban.
Mr Howe said fishers had "seriously damaged their credibility" leading to a judicial review of the set net ban in the High Court at Wellington next week.
He urged the Government to include trawling in the ban.
Last month, autopsies on seven dolphins found dead in Admiralty Bay in the Marlborough Sounds found signs that two of the mammals had been caught in fishermen's set nets.
- NZPA
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