40% Rise In New Zealand Sea Lion Bycatch Quota Condemned
December 2008. Forest & Bird is shocked that squid fishermen will be allowed to kill 40 per cent more threatened New Zealand sea lions in the coming season.
New Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley has announced that the number of sea lions allowed to be killed in the squid fishery this season has been raised from 81 last year to 113.
Kill quota should be zero
"The kill quota should be zero," Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says. "Sea lion populations are small and are declining, and we should be doing everything we can to protect all sea lions."
Threatened species
It is thought that there are just 10-12,000 left alive, and the rise in the kill quota is despite the elevated threat status of the sea lions, which are found only in New Zealand waters. They have been classified as a threatened species since 1997, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) this year elevated their threat status by listing them as being in decline.
"Forest & Bird is very disappointed with the decision because the scientific assessment this year shows that the maximum limit that the Minister could have set should be half last year's," Kirstie Knowles says.
Most deaths are females - usually pregnant and with a pup
Given that about 82 per cent of sea lions killed in trawl nets are female, and highly likely to be pregnant and have a pup on shore, this equates to three sea lion deaths: the mother, its unborn pup and the pup that starves to death on shore.
