Quotations and comments from Wayne Walker, Albany ward councillor and Auckland Council environment and sustainability forum chairman back the (IWC Scientific) committee's recommendations for saving the last 55 Maui's dolphins. And Auckland council coastal specialist Bill Trusewich chimes in too.
Wayne Walker criticized the New Zealand government's failure to fully protect the Maui's dolphin off Auckland's west coast, saying it has bowed to fishing industry pressure ahead of public opinion.
"Solutions are available but aren't being looked at, he says.
Auckland council coastal specialist Bill Trusewich, with a background in fisheries and also with DOC including dealing in marine mammals, agrees and went on to describe how: "Incorporating SPO8 - the small fisheries management area off the Taranaki Bight - into the large SPO1, which extends from north of Taranaki around the North Island, including most of the Bay of Plenty, would give Taranaki fishing companies many more options, allowing them to stay out of the dolphins territory but still make a living," he says.
"Fishing operators can only sell quotas within their own management area, so amalgamating the areas would see Taranaki companies able to move within, lease or sell quotas in the bigger SPO1."
"The International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee), which made a similar recommendation last year, noted that proposals including seismic surveying as part of seabed mining also represented a potential threat."
"Conservation Minister Nick Smith says the Government would take all practical steps to ensure the survival of the Maui's dolphin."
Note: Though stated as follows, the NZ government has yet to announce the Threat Management Plan.
"The revised Maui's dolphin component of the Hector's and Maui's Dolphin Threat Management Plan is expected out early this month."
Will the New Zealand government pay heed to concerns expressed by Society for Marine Mammalogy, IUCN (International Union of Conservation Nations), IWC International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, and several international animal welfare organizations?
Let's be sure they do the right thing!
Much gratitude to everyone♥ for creating & collecting to contribute to our over 6,900 Visual Petitions!
Another "Let's Face It" Visual Petition campaign follow-up e-mail will be sent to the NZ govt early next week. So please keep them coming!
WE must KEEP the PRESSURE up!!!
GRAB your Camera!
Just asking your friends, family, & co-workers, you'll get heaps of VP photos!
Going to a party, event, farmers market,... this weekend?
Seabed mining, even more devastating than bottom trawling, could very soon come into Maui's & Hector's Dolphin habitat. Please visit the Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) site to know what you can do.
Be informed! Now released for international viewing, "The LAST Ocean", an excellent & very important film to watch & spread the word
Gareth Hughes gives them HEAPS about the TMP (Threat Management Plan) for Maui's Dolphins!
