Parker David: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
Parker David: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5279] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 Firstly I acknowledge that Eric Roy’s concerns for conservation interests are sincerely held beliefs but I suggest for a number of reasons that his decision on the Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill is incorrect. 
I start by pointing out a few statistics. Do members know that 50 percent of the world’s marine mammal species are found in our oceans? Although we do not have 50 percent of the numbers of those in world population terms we have a very substantial proportion of the world’s sea mammals. Two-thirds of the world’s species of albatross and big petrels are found in our waters. Again we also have a high proportion of their total numbers. If there is any one country in the world that needs to be a responsible guardian of our seabirds and our sea mammals it is New Zealand. We have the greatest proportion. If we in New Zealand do not properly protect those species we have to acknowledge the reality that the world including New Zealand is willing to oversee the extinction of those species. As a member of Parliament I am not willing to abrogate my responsibilities and see that as an outcome. I am voting for this bill and the Labour Party is voting for this bill. 
The National Government says it does not want to be a world leader on these issues but really we already are. The shameful thing is that we are the world leaders in conservation destruction. Since 1998 there has been a 50 percent decline in the Auckland Island’s population of the Hooker’s sea lion. I got that statistic from the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society and I trust it to be correct. If we think the population of that sea lion is getting better I can tell members that in the last year that population declined by 30 percent as a consequence of by-catch—mainly through fishing for squid. So it is absolutely plain that the current law is not working. 
The example Eric Roy gave of the Hector’s dolphin and the Maui’s dolphin is illustrative because I see that example as arguing against the point Mr Roy was making. There needs to be a higher conservation baseline there and he is right; it is being litigated by the industry. Every time the Minister of Fisheries makes a decision in respect of trying to improve the results of the catching of seals sea lions or albatross it is very frequently litigated by the industry because the legal test in the legislation the Minister relies on is too lax. It is too difficult a hurdle for the Minister to meet without the risk of litigation and that is why members should support the referral of this bill in the name of Metiria Turei to the Local Government and Environment Committee. 
Like Steve Chadwick I think there are some problems with the definitions in new section 2A inserted by clause 5 relating to the protection of marine mammals and the effect of the definition of the “high probability that each population will be at or above the level at which it has its maximum net productivity”. That test is a wee bit high; actually I think it is impossible to meet but that can be sorted out at the select committee. The principle at stake here is we as guardians of a substantial proportion of the world’s sea mammals and big seabirds are currently failing in our duty to the world. We are failing not just our own populations and not just because of the intrinsic worth of those populations but we are failing the rest of the world. As I said those populations are already declining. In the case of the Hooker’s sea lion the Auckland Islands’ population has declined by 50 percent since 1998. I think that says it all; we do not need to go further than that. Our law is patently not working at the moment and we need to do better. 
It reflects poorly on the National Government that it will not allow this bill to be referred to the select committee. National pretended before the election to be blue-green. We now know that it will not lead on any of these things despite the fact that the rest of the world relies upon New Zealand because we have 50 percent of the species of marine mammals more than two-thirds of the species of albatross and big petrels in our economic zone a substantial proportion of their total populations and they are declining. One final point: Sir Peter Blake said this is happening so fast that he noticed the absences of birds on his around-the-world voyages.