Fishermen ready for set-net battle

Taranaki commercial fishermen are again ready to battle the Ministry of Fisheries over dolphins.

The ministry has opened public consultation on options for managing the impact the use of set-nets has on the rare Maui and Hector's dolphins in Taranaki.

In 2008 the region's fishermen were fuming over tough new laws on set-net, trawling and drift-net fishing, on the North Island's west coast.

Taranaki Fishing Liaison Committee chairman Keith Mawson said the laws, designed to protect the endangered dolphins, would seriously impact the livelihood of fishermen.

"The ministry made a decision and pushed everything outside seven nautical miles to provide some protection for the Maui dolphins. We don't believe they had enough information available to be able to make that decision," Mr Mawson said.

"There was no logical reason for that to happen."

The minister has been asked to reconsider the decision as a result of a High Court ruling after a legal challenge by the fishing industry in 2008.

Mr Mawson said the process had been frustrating.

"We have to go back through the process again. It takes a lot of time and resources."

The laws had had a dramatic impact on rig, or lemon fish, fishing in the region, affecting exports to Australia and supply to local supermarkets, Mr Mawson said.

To add insult to an already irritated bunch of fishermen, Mr Mawson said the public consultation was meant to start nearly three months ago.

"Now they are only going to give us six weeks to do submissions when it's the end of one fishing year and the start of a new one."

Mr Mawson said he just wanted the status quo. "Our guys can fish from four to seven nautical miles from September 1 until Christmas, which is the relief we got from the High Court ruling two years ago. "There have been no Maui dolphins caught in the last 20-odd years. They are putting measures in place to remove any potential threat but there is no threat there anyway."

He said the ministry had no new information on which to to base decisions.

"They don't talk about all the other things like dolphins actually get sick from hanging around the waterways and are exposed to all of the fertilisers these days and they die from that stuff, but it is just always about fisherman."

There are estimated to be just over 7000 Hector's dolphins and 100 Maui dolphins left in New Zealand waters – the only place they are found.

The last time a Maui dolphin was spotted off Taranaki was in December last year but before that none had been found since 1989.

Submissions are to close on October 12.

- © Fairfax NZ News