NZ minister announces new measures to protect dolphins

The fishing measures include a mix of regional bans and other restrictions on set netting, trawling and drift netting in the coastal waters where the dolphins are most often found, as well as a significant increase in monitoring.

These measures sit alongside marine mammal sanctuary measures announced by Acting Conservation Minister David Parker today.

The new measures are specific to particular areas. In summary, they are (maps available at http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Press/hector.htm, if required):

North Island west coast - from Maunganui Bluff north of Kaipara Harbour to Pariokariwa Point north of New Plymouth

• Extend commercial and recreational set netting bans from four nautical miles to seven nautical miles offshore

• Ban commercial and recreational set netting:

- In the Kaipara Harbour entrance (west of a line that runs from Poutu Point to South Head)

- In the lower part of Port Waikato

- In the Raglan Harbour entrance (west of a line that runs north-west from Putoetoe Point)

- Further into the Manukau Harbour than the existing set net ban (from Lawry Point south-east to channel marker no. 4, then south-west to a peninsula one kilometre south of Grahams Beach)

• Extend trawling bans from one nautical mile to two nautical miles offshore from Maunganui Bluff to Pariokariwa Point, and to four nautical miles between Manukau Harbour and Port Waikato

• Ban commercial and recreational drift netting in Port Waikato

South Island south coast - from Slope Point in the Catlins to Sandhill Point east of Fiordland

• Ban commercial and recreational set netting to four nautical miles offshore - except in harbours, estuaries and inlets

• Ban commercial and recreational set netting in the whole of Te Waewae Bay

• Within 2 nautical miles of shore restrict the type of trawl gear used to flatfish nets with defined low headline heights.

South Island east coast - from Cape Jackson in the Marlborough Sounds to Slope Point in the Catlins

• Ban commercial and recreational set netting in most areas to four nautical miles offshore, with the following exceptions:

- Commercial and recreational set netting banned to only one nautical mile offshore around the Kaikoura Canyon

- Set netting still permitted in most harbours, estuaries, river mouths, lagoons and inlets except for the Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Lyttelton Harbour, Akaroa Harbour and Timaru Harbour

- Set netting for flounder permitted between 1 April and 30 September in designated flounder areas around Banks Peninsula and Queen Charlotte Sound using defined nets

• Within 2 nautical miles of shore restrict the type of trawl gear used to flatfish nets with defined low headline heights

South Island west coast - from Cape Farewell in the north to Awarua Point north of Fiordland

• Ban recreational set netting to two nautical miles offshore

• Ban commercial set netting to two nautical miles offshore between 1 December and 28 February