Industry Renews Call for Action on Mauis Dolphins

"To put things into perspective, the dolphin washed up on a Taranaki beach last week had died of natural causes. The industry is not implicated and yet it set off a whole stream of anti-industry invective.

"We need to be clear on the objective which is to save an endangered species.

"There have been no live sightings of dolphins of any sort in the proposed exclusion zone, so stopping the industry fishing in Taranaki is clearly not going to save the dolphins. It will undoubtedly kill the in-shore fishing industry.

Set net fishing is already excluded from large sections of the west coast of the North Island, clearly with little effect. Further exclusions are not going to make any difference to the plight of the Maui's Dolphin.

"The industry has repeatedly offered its resources to assist with the protection of the Maui's Dolphins, but this will not be enough on its own. What is required is a proper Government-initiated management plan, not a ritualistic flogging of the fishing industry.

"This issue deserves mature consideration, not sensationalism," he says.