Kaikoura purse seine ban

Forest and Bird, Issue 267, 1 February 1993, Page 5

Kaikoura purse seine ban

FOREST AND BIRD has been successful in helping to obtain restrictions at Kaikoura on the use of purse seine nets for the 1992-93 fishing year. These large nets are used by commercial operators to target schools of surface fish such as kahawai. Conservationists and recreational fishers have long been concerned about the effects of the nets on the availability of fish for the marine mammals and birdlife for which Kaikoura is so well known, and the danger to the abundant marine mammal life inshore. The issue came to a head last February when five Hector’s dolphins were accidently caught by a Sealord vessel in full view of the beach. Although Forest and Bird’s proposal for inshore restrictions on purse-seining in the area were initially dismissed by Sealord chief executive Brian Rhoades "as the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life", the company has now joined with other commercial operators in an agreement to keep their nets at least one nautical mile from the Kaikoura coast. Hopefully, the agreement will become permanent.