Turei Metiria: General Debate 
Turei Metiria: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15733] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Eighty percent of New Zealanders would rather see set nets and trawl nets banned than have the blood of an extinction on their hands. That is the result of a Colmar Brunton poll released today by the World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand. Eighty-three percent of New Zealanders would prefer to take the small economic hit than to see our Maui’s dolphins and our Hector’s dolphins disappear from our coastlines forever. There are only about 100 Maui’s dolphins left and just a few thousand Hector’s dolphins. There is overwhelming support from New Zealanders for the conservation of the species. So what can be done to meet this demand from New Zealanders to save the Maui’s dolphin and the Hector’s dolphin? 
The Fisheries Act states quite clearly that the Minister has the power to take action. It states that a Minister can take measures as he or she considers it necessary to impose a remedy or mitigate the effects of fishing-related mortality on any protected species. Although there has been much debate about the necessity for Ministers’ actions in other kinds of cases such as the squid fishery cases in this case for these dolphins there is no doubt at all. A recent National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research report which included a contribution by an author from the Seafood Industry Council quite clearly concluded that it is absolutely necessary to fully reduce fishing-related mortality to zero if the dolphin population is to recover at all. Even then the institute report states that with the best and only option to achieve zero fishing-related mortality it will still take 50 years for the dolphin population to grow by just a few thousand and not even to double in number. The fact is that if the current management continues the dolphin population will fall to just over 5000 by 2050 and that is in effect extinction. Dolphins are on the brink of extinction at that stage and certainly the Maui’s dolphin with just a hundred or so individuals will certainly be extinct by 2050 if action is not taken now. 
One of our concerns as the Green Party is that none of the three options presented in the Government’s draft threat management plan will actually do what is needed. They will not reduce the threat mortality to zero. We need an option four which is to ban set nets within the area of the entire range of these creatures and to have observers on all trawler vessels within that range if we cannot simply prohibit trawling from the area. 
There is no population management plan for the Hector’s dolphin despite its critical status and the plan in the draft threat management plan is very weak—much weaker than what is provided for in the Fisheries Act. The plan is not binding and its finalisation will not see dolphins protected until the proposals are implemented in legislation. There is no way that we will see any action put in place before the next breeding season of these dolphins in the summer. We know that we have to act right now to prevent the dolphins’ extinction but we cannot be assured as I say that these measures will even be implemented by the next breeding season in the summer. 
It is absolutely necessary for this Government to take action to introduce a bill that will implement measures to prevent an extinction. It was not so long ago when there was a dolphin extinction. One of the Chinese dolphin species became extinct. New Zealand is very rapidly reaching for the silver medal of extinction by not taking action to do something about the problem now when it has the opportunity to do so. If there is one Government bill that should be introduced under urgency—to prevent even one more dolphin slaughter and to prevent litigious fishing barons from delaying the protection that is so desperately needed—then this is it. The Minister should use the power he has under the Fisheries Act to protect these species from extinction. 
If there is hesitation—and in all these matters when it comes to the fishing industry there is hesitation—I urge the Government to have a look at the Colmar Brunton poll that was released today. It shows that 83 percent of voters are willing to see set nets banned. It is a popular issue amongst the community itself. People in the community are clearly claiming conservation of the species as a major priority for them and as something they are prepared to give over some benefits for in order to see these species survive. It is true that there may be something of a loss of fishing revenue for some of the commercial fishers but it is a matter of pitting that against the survival—indeed the extinction—of an iconic New Zealand species at the hands of this Government. If the Government and the National Party need to take a more shallow approach to it then it might be worth reminding them that 83 percent of the voting population is about 2 million people. That is a significant voter population if that is what is going to push their buttons to make something happen. This species needs to be protected now. Thank you.