HOOKED ON BULLSHIT

Sometimes it is important to comment on some of the wacky and emotive crap the Green party puts into the public arena.

We love Hooker Sealions. They are very cool. We also love the Seafood industry and sad as it maybe some sealions will die as we harvest seafood. We need a regime that ensures minimal deaths but ensures the seafood harvest is sustained.

Up until now the regulations have been based on spurious science and emotion. That is changing and its pissing off the Greens.

So we indulge in not fishing - but fisking..

Government leaves sea lions to fend for themselves

Press Release by Green Party at 3:42 pm, 11 Aug 2009

Today's Government decision to abandon the sea lion Population Management Plan (PMP) leaves the species high and dry, and moves them a step closer to extinction.

There is no evidence that the population is heading toward extinction under the current management regime. The PMP would have set a regime (called MALFiRM) that may not have been substantially different from the current Fishing Related Mortality Limit (FRML); MFish would still have implemented the MALFiRM, as it does the FRML.

"It is bitterly disappointing that the Government has ditched one of the best tools we have in the law to protect a threatened marine mammal like the New Zealand sea lion," said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

The sea lion PMP has limitations about what about what it can achieve; it still sets an annual limit for MFish to implement. Other statutory tools like marine mammal sanctuaries remain available in the absence of a PMP.

The Department of Conservation today announced that it has produced a 'species management plan' (a generic set of guidelines) and dropped the 'Population Management Plan' (a legal plan under the Marine Mammals Protection Act) that the public submitted on.

What a bloody good idea.

"Without a population management plan, the Government decision on how many sea lions can be 'sustainably' killed this coming season will be made under the Fisheries Act rather than our marine protection laws," said Mrs Turei.

So what? The Ministry still administers it.

"This decision shows how important it is to fix our marine protection laws, and how irresponsible it was for the National Party to vote against my recent bill to do just that."

What crap The current approach has the support of most stakeholders.

The Green Party's Marine Animal Protection Law Reform Bill was voted down by the National Party late last month sparking an outcry from environment groups.

Indeed. It was a crap piece of legislation - all rhetoric - no common sense.

"The continued decline of our sea lion shows that the marine sanctuaries and reserves around its breeding grounds are insufficient," said Mrs Turei. "We need a strong plan that will actually protect them."

What utter bullshit. Our muttonbird island is a classic example numbers have remained steady for over 20 years. And the cause of the supposed decline is unknown but is very unlikely to be caused by the direct effect of fishing. Marine reserves cannot be extended beyond the territorial sea of the Auckland Islands, and the option of extending the marine mammal sanctuary remains available under the current legislation even without a PMP. The PMP would have set a regime (MALFiRM) that would have been implemented by MAF if it considers it’s appropriate after looking at all relevant factors.

"Sea lion mums killed at sea result in pups onshore being left to starve when mum doesn't return."

Yup, sometimes, its ugly to watch but thats life and death. and remember deaths at sea can occur as a result of natural events, not just fishing. Whales are a main predator.

72 sea lions were presumed killed by the fishery at the close of the 2008/9 fishing season.

True they are presumed killed, but almost certainly a vast overestimation of actual deaths. During the heaviest part of the squid fishing season over 50% of boats carried official observers. Only four sea lion deaths were reported (two by boats carrying observers and two by boats that weren’t carrying observers). So the extrapolation of figures is the absolute worst case scenario laced with a good dollop of emotive crapola.

The New Zealand sea lion was declared a threatened species under the Marine Mammals Protection Act in 1997. It is the rarest sea lion in the world.

Give us a break. It was always a small discrete population. Its at the top of the food chain and there is never huge populations of anything at the top of the food chain - marine biology 101.

Natural vulnerability to disease is amplified by sea lions killed in interactions with fishing vessels. It is estimate that 700 adults have been killed by Sub-Antarctic squid trawlers in the past decade.

The 700 estimate may be about right assuming 70 per year, but that of course is 70 assumed deaths under the FRML – remember that with significant observation of the fishery this year only four sea lion deaths were actually confirmed, two on observed boats and two reported by unobserved boats.

In the absence of a Population Management Plan, fishing-related deaths of sea lions will be managed by the Ministry of Fisheries, leaving the Department of Conservation to manage other aspects under a weak non-statutory plan.

True, but a classic straw man statement: nothing has changed; whatever the regime it would have been managed by the Ministry of Fisheries. so we reckon all in all a good move by the government. Rational and reasonable. - a far cry from the emotive driven legislation we have seen in the past decade.

GREENY BULLSHIT ABOUT HOOKER SEALIONS

The standard is going crook about new Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley increasing the allowable sealion bycatch for the squid industry.

We know this issue very, very well. There is nothing "threatened" about the Hooker Sealion population - there are thousands of the buggers in and around the oceans way south of New Zealand where the squid fishery is largely based. Note the use of the word "threatened" rather than "endangered" - which does mean that something is demonstrably in trouble.

BB gets up close and personal ( well as close as you can get considering their propensity to suffer from cetacean halitosis) with these wonderful creatures on a regular basis. We have even hand feed them and swum with them. Never stand in their poop. It is as vile as animal poop gets. Its normally white with little fishy bits in it and very slippery and it sticks to rubber like - well poop sticks to rubber. And they will chase you on land but in the water they dont seem to give a shit about you.

So the Standard and Forest and Bird are getting all hysterical because National has imposed a much more realistic level of by catch from 81 to 113.

Now, in 1998 lots of pups died from some mysterious bug. Curiously and importantly, overcrowding was not discounted as a possible factor in the spread of the unknown malady.

Up until that point there were an estimated 15,000. In 2003 it was estimated that the population was about 13000. Both of these figures are wildly speculative and considered to be a underestimate of actual number which fisheries experts put at about 20,000 . There is a population of about 30 - 35 that resides in Small craft in Port Pegasus. DOC estimated it at the time to be 5 -1o animals which has been one reason we have never trusted their estimates. As you will witness from the pics - an young one on the left and an old beachmaster on the right - they spend quite a bit of time deep in the bush. These two were photographed by BB about 1km inland up a fresh water creek with towering rimu all around.
So DOC takes pics of the ones on the beach - not the ones in the bush - which at any time seem to be about half the population.

They are truly magnificent animals and we were deeply upset when a fisherman shot some of them a few years back and left them to rot on our island beach. However we are also pragmatic and the Squid industry is an important one for New Zealand the forth largest in earnings at 86 million a year.

So at less than one percent this bycatch is still very, very low.

DOC's lickspittles over at Forest and Bird should look at other burning issues like cats on Stewart Island which do huge amounts of damage to small bird life instead of twittering and tweetering about the minimal collateral damage to yet another species of, to coin a phrase from Ta Tipene O'Regan, "charismatic mega fauna." But then thats the rub, F and B wouldn't get much traction for calling for a cull of a heap of bad pussies. So, instead, they just pick on the causes that will appeal to an animal cuddling public to ensure the donations keep flowing. How venal.

GAME FISHERS GIVEN LEAVE TO FIGHT FOR KAHAWAI

Supreme Court grants leave to appeal contentious fisheries management priorities

A milestone decision by the Supreme Court to accept an application to review the 2008 Appeal Court kahawai decisions has been welcomed by amateur fishing organisations.

The Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Clarification has been sought as to how the Minister of Fisheries is to properly allow for amateur fishing interests when setting catch limits in all, important fisheries. The Supreme Court’s decision will likely set a precedent for all future management decisions.

Joint appellants to the Appeal Court decision, the New Zealand Big Game Fishing Council and the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council, are now waiting for a hearing date to be set by the Supreme Court, likely to be early 2009.

Richard Baker, President of the NZ Big Game Fishing Council, has been inundated with calls of support since the Court’s announcement.

“This is an historic day for all New Zealanders. The Council appreciates the backing of option4 and our largest iwi, Ngapuhi, in trying to defend the inalienable right of all future Kiwis to fish and provide for their wellbeing.”

While the Council is pleased with the decision to allow the appeal, it was not surprised that the fishing industry had opposed the Supreme Court application. The Council was however very surprised and disappointed that the Ministry and Minister of Fisheries supported the fishing industry in opposing the Council’s application. This, especially as they had previously accepted the High Court’s findings and not sought to appeal the case at the Appeal Court level.

ENDS

Background to Kahawai Legal Challenge

In March 2007 the High Court found that The Minister of Fisheries decisions on entry of the kahawai species to the quota management system in 2004 and 2005 were unlawful.

This was an important win for recreational and amateur fishers who brought the case known as the Kahawai Legal Challenge

The findings against the Minister of Fisheries included the fact that a total allowable commercial catch for kahawai had been set without having proper regard to the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of the people - a mandatory consideration in the Fisheries Act 1996.

The judicial review proceedings were lodged as a test case. The case is the first legal proceedings by amateur and recreational fishing interests since the introduction of the quota management scheme.

In April 2007 three of New Zealand’s largest commercial fishing companies Sanford Limited, Sealord Group Limited and Pelagic & Tuna NZ Limited appealed the historic High Court decision made by Justice Harrison.

The Court of Appeal decision was released in June 2008. The Appeal Court’s decision was mixed, with a win for both the commercial appellants and the respondents. Some aspects of the Appeal Court’s interpretation of the relationship between different sections of the Fisheries Act 1996 forms part of the Supreme Court challenge.

Web: www.kahawai.co.nz

This has the potential to change the way our fisheries are managed..

Roarprawn supports the sentiment of the Recreational Fishers case but all recreational fishers need to take more responsibility for recording catches..

With rights go responsibility