A group of rescued yellow-eyed penguins. Photo ODT files
Sun, 19 May 2013
News: Dunedin
Extending a ban on set net fishing around the Otago
Peninsula will stem the deaths of one of the rarest penguin
species in the world, the native yellow-eyed penguin, Forest
and Bird says.
An international review published in the Journal of
Biological Conservation by BirdLife International found
400,000 birds worldwide died annually from recreational and
commercial set nets.
But the umbrella group for commercial fishers says those
figures are exaggerated and any ban around Otago would put a
serious financial dent in the industry.
Forest and Bird seabird advocate Karen Baird said there were
fewer than 600 pairs of yellow-eyed penguins left on mainland
New Zealand, with about 150 of those living on the Otago
Peninsula.
"The current 4km-wide set net ban around the Otago
Peninsula's coast should be extended to around the 150-metre
depth contour, the extent to which yellow-eyed penguins are
known to forage," she said.
"This effectively means that the protection zone needs to
extend to around 20 kilometres offshore."
The birds were a cornerstone of Otago's $100 million a year
eco-tourism industry, which meant there was was also very
good economic reasons to ban the nets.
The risk of losing the yellow-eyed penguin colonies on the
peninsula was particularly high right now, with 56 birds
having been found dead around the Otago Peninsula this
breeding season - the victims of an unknown toxin, she said.
New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen vice-president
Allan Rooney said a observers on boats in waters off Timaru
and Taranaki found no seabirds killed in set nets.
An extension on the set net ban area around Otago could
result in a financial blow to the fishing industry there.
"It would make a major difference to the guys down there and
also to the New Zealand economy."
source
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