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Letter to New Zealand Minister of Conservation: additional protection is insufficient

Hon Dr. Nick Smith
Minister for Conservation
Government of New Zealand

Dear Dr. Smith,

Thank you for advising the Society of Marine Mammalogy that additional netting closures are planned to protect Maui’s dolphin.

We appreciate that such action is very difficult because of the resultant negative impact on the New Plymouth fishing industry.

Members of the Society have extensive experience with efforts to reduce interactions between marine mammals and the fishing industry. It is our professional opinion that to successfully conserve this sub-species, it will be necessary to reduce the risk of Maui’s dolphins being caught in nets to zero. This can only be done by extending the proposed netting closures to cover the entire range of the Maui’s dolphin.

While we realize the complications of such an action, the Society hopes that the New Zealand government will be able to take this critical step to save the world’s rarest dolphins.

Sincerely,

helene-marsh-sig
Helene Marsh
President

Response to letter to President Nieto Regarding the Vaquita

The following is a response to my letter addressed to the President of Mexico, Mr. Enrique Pena Nieto, in which I asked for the Mexican government to use alternative fishing tools for the artisan netting fishing overlapping the distribution of the Vaquita.

Mazatlán, Sinaloa, May 21th 2013.

HELENE MARSH
I refer to your attentive letter unnumbered, dated on March 4 of the current year, recently received in this General Administrative Office of Management of Aquaculture and Fisheries, by which you requests us to report on the extent of the area where the alternative fishing net designed by the National Fisheries Institute will be mandatory for the shrimp fishery, as well as the date on which regulation come into force.
In this regard, I comment you that the public consultation period for the Amendment to the Mexican Official Standard NOM-002-PESC 1993 ended on April 23rd. This NOM regulates the shrimp fishery, and considers the implementation of this alternative fishing gear, without limiting the possibilities to allow other gear whose efficiency and selectivity would to be previously evaluated by the National Fisheries Institute.
Note that during in the public consultation period, 716 comments were received, all questioning the use of the prototype fishing gear and only one proposal to amend the Official Standard to authorize the use of the alternative fishing net in another region of the country. In the near future we will have to decide whether is it advisable to implement the use of such active fishing gear for the shrimp fishery in the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, except in the vaquita refuge zone where fishing activities are not allowed
The results of the consultation will be made known to the public through the publication of regulatory instrument in the Official Gazette of the Federation, which we hope to do in next July and will to go into effect 60 days after its publication.
With no further ado, I take the chance to send you my warm regards,

Atte:

Aldo Gerardo Padilla Pestano,
General Director and Coordinator of the Subcommittee for Responsible Fishing.

Letter to New Zealand Prime Minister regarding seismic surveys and Maui’s dolphin

Rt. Hon. Mr John Key
Prime Minister of New Zealand

Hon. Mr. Nathan Guy
Minister for Primary Industries

Hon. Mr. Nick Smith
Minister of Conservation

Parliament Buildings
Wellington 6011
New Zealand

17 April 2013

Dear Sirs

The Society for Marine Mammalogy is the World’s largest professional group dedicated to the study of marine mammals, with a membership of approximately 2,000 scientists from 60 countries. Its goal is to facilitate the understanding and conservation of marine mammals and the ecosystems that support them.

I write to you as President of the Society concerning ongoing seismic surveys within the area of protection for Maui’s dolphins Cephalorhynchus hectori maui. The most recent science indicates that only about 55 individuals of this subspecies remain and government agencies are currently considering protection measures to eliminate deaths in fisheries by removing gillnets and trawling from the protected area.

Like porpoises, these dolphins use high frequency sonar to locate their prey. A recent study of harbour porpoises (Lucke et al. 2009) found them to be more sensitive to auditory damage from seismic testing than any other dolphin or whale. The direct damage to porpoises anticipated to result from a planned seismic project off California, USA resulted in the denial to permit this activity by the California Coastal Commission (see http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2012/11/W13b-11-2012.pdf). It should be noted that the potential seriousness of the impact of the seismic activity was considered excessive for a stock of over 2,000 individuals that has no current conservation concerns. By comparison, Maui’s dolphin is Critically Endangered.

The Society’s letter of January this year commended the Department of Conservation and Ministry for Primary Industries for convening an Expert President Panel and preparing a Risk Assessment Report (www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/consultations/current/threat-management-plan-review-for-mauis-dolphin) to inform the review.

The letter went on to state:
Scientists from New Zealand and elsewhere have provided an exceptionally strong scientific basis for managing fisheries to prevent the extinction of Maui’s dolphins. I trust that you recognize the urgent need to act on that science and strengthen measures to protect these dolphins, which are endemic to North Island waters. Any bycatch of Maui’s dolphins is clearly unsustainable and, on behalf of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, I concur with the IWC recommendation to extend the North Island protected area and the IUCN resolution to ban gillnet and trawl fisheries in all areas where Maui’s dolphins are found as critical actions without which this population is highly likely to decline towards extinction.

I encourage you to act quickly and decisively to provide the leadership in marine conservation that the world expects of your country. The Society’s biennial international conference will be held in Dunedin later this year – I hope we will be able to receive reports of positive management developments benefiting Maui’s dolphins at that time.

We are very concerned that seismic testing is being allowed in the protected area not only because of the risk of direct harm to dolphin hearing but also because potential displacement from this habitat by Maui’s dolphins could result in increased bycatch in unprotected areas. Allowing this seismic testing thus appears inconsistent with the New Zealand Government’s stated goal of enabling this subspecies to recover. We urge you to reconsider the decision to allow this seismic testing in and near the protected area in light of the high risk to the Maui’s dolphin.

Yours sincerely,

helene-marsh-sig

Helene Marsh PhD, FTSE

President Society for Marine Mammalogy

Letter to New Zealand Prime Minister regarding Maui’s dolphin

Mr John Key
Prime Minister of New Zealand

Mr Nathan Guy
Minister for Primary Industries

Mr Nick Smith
Minister of Conservation

Parliament Buildings
Wellington 6011
New Zealand

11 February 2013

Dear Sirs,

The Society for Marine Mammalogy is the world’s largest professional group dedicated to the study of marine mammals, with a membership of approximately 2,000 scientists from 60 countries. Its goal is to facilitate the understanding and conservation of marine mammals and the ecosystems that support them.

I write to you as President of the Society, concerning the review of the Threat Management Plan for Maui’s dolphins, Cephalorhynchus hectori maui. I commend the Department of Conservation and Ministry for Primary Industries for convening an Expert Panel and preparing a Risk Assessment Report to inform the review (see
(www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/consultations/current/threat-management-plan-review-for-mauis-dolphin)

The Society is committed to using the best available scientific evidence to support sustainable marine resource management, and thus supports conservation solutions consistent with the conclusions of the Expert Panel.

The data on fishing effort presented in the Risk Assessment Report show that gillnetting and trawling still occur in areas inhabited by Maui’s dolphins (see Figures A2.8 and A2.11 of the Report). Gillnets are used up to the boundary of the current protected area, and trawling continues inside and outside the protected area. In fact, the Expert Panel estimated that five Maui’s dolphins die each year from entanglement in fishing gear.

Thus, entanglement mortality annually removes about 9% of the estimated remaining population of 55 individuals (over one year of age), and greatly exceeds the level of human-caused mortality that this small population of dolphins can sustain. Scientific advice often involves a degree of uncertainty, but in a situation such as this one involving a critically endangered subspecies delay to resolve uncertainty could have dire, irrevocable results.

After reviewing research on Maui’s dolphins at its meeting in June 2012, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) expressed particular concern about the small size of the population and recommended immediate implementation of the proposal by the Ministry for Primary Industries to extend the North Island protected area to approximately 80 km south of the latest dolphin bycatch site, offshore to the 100 m depth contour and to include the harbours. As a further indication of international interest and concern, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) adopted a resolution at its World Conservation Congress in September 2012, urging the New Zealand government to ban gillnet and trawl fisheries in all areas where Maui’s dolphins are found.

Scientists from New Zealand and elsewhere have provided an exceptionally strong scientific basis for managing fisheries to prevent the extinction of Maui’s dolphins. Any bycatch of Maui’s dolphins is clearly unsustainable, You will appreciate the urgent need to act on that science and strengthen measures to protect these dolphins, which are endemic to North Island waters. On behalf of the Society for Marine Mammology, I concur with the IWC recommendation to extend the North Island protected area and the IUCN resolution to ban gillnet and trawl fisheries in all areas where these dolphins are found. These actions are critical and without them this population is highly likely to decline towards extinction.

I encourage you to act quickly and decisively to provide the leadership in marine conservation that the world expects of your country.

The Society’s 20th biennial international conference will be held in Dunedin later this year. I look forward to receiving reports of positive management developments benefiting Maui’s dolphins at that time and would be very happy to meet with members of the New Zealand government or their officers if you think that would be helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Helene Marsh PhD, FTSE.

Additional Letter to Japanese Government Regarding Dolphin and Small Whale Hunts

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
100-8968 JAPAN

Director General of Fisheries Agency
Masanori Sato
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
1-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
100-8950 JAPAN

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Akira Gunji
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
1-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
100-8950 JAPAN

Dear Sirs:

The letter below was sent to the current, relevant, senior members of the Japanese government and bureaucracy on the 23rd May 2012 by the then President of the Society of Marine Mammalogy, Dr Randall Wells, on behalf of the Board of Governors of the Society. This professional Society consists of some two thousand scientists from 60 countries and is dedicated to the study, understanding, and conservation of marine mammals and their ecosystems.

The letter can also be accessed from the Society’s website see http://www.marinemammalscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=65&Itemid=183

At the time of writing, the Board had recently reviewed information on the dolphin and small whale hunts in Japan. On behalf of the Board and Society, Dr Wells conveyed our serious concern regarding the sustainability of those hunts and requested clarification on a number of points as outlined in his letter.

As this is a matter of great interest to the members of the Society, I would appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience, please.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Helene Marsh
President

[Letter to Japanese Government Regarding Dolphin and Small Whale Hunts included]