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Dolphin Results a complete sham By Graham Carter
Now I’ve heard it all.This is just another lot of “Science” Spin from Planet MPI. Nathan Guy and Maggie Barrie have saved Maui dolphins! Give us a break. Their PR machine has been flat out publishing this rubbish in an aborted attempt to portray themselves as ‘dolphin protectors’. One good indication that this is Pure 100% Spin is how and when it got released. On the first day of the International Whaling Commission meeting, where NZ will get yet another bollocking about ignoring the IWC recommendations to fully protected Maui dolphins. The only scientific information released so far is a 2 page summary, with the full report to be released next month. A nice safe option if you don’t want anybody to be able to check the difference between the science and the Spin! The same thing happened with the results of the MPI Hector’s dolphin survey. Nick Smith released the population estimate when the survey results were still being peer reviewed by overseas scientists. Following Nick Smith shouting
down the phone at MPI staff demanding the population estimate before the peer reviews were in. As usual, it’s 99% Politics, 1% Science! If you were completely ignorant about fisheries management you might just be taken in by this PR nonsense. But some of us have been around the block a couple of times and have been paying attention to what is actually going on. It is certainly not time for celebration because there MIGHT be 8 more Maui dolphins than 5 years ago. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that this would be presented as a victory, considering some of the other ridiculous spin we have recently been fed about fish stocks ... Fill in your favourite Spin gone mad stories … Of course there are politicians who care about the environment. But the current government are useless at actually doing anything about the environmental damage caused by their decisions, instead putting all its efforts into pretending there is no problem. To say that the Maui dolphin num-
bers are encouraging is like celebrating when your child is in intensive care after a car accident, in an induced coma and running a high fever. The fact that the child is still alive is certainly encouraging, but don’t you think you would wait with the celebration until your child is no longer hooked up to machines and is able to leave intensive care to go to a normal hospital ward? Or preferably walk again? These dolphins have been hammered by fishing nets for forty years. There are less than a hundred of them and they are on the brink of extinction! Meanwhile the government is fiddling with the numbers, cranking up the numbers of live dolphins and hiding the true number of dolphins killed in fishing gear. Glenn Simmonds found that NZ only reports about half of its fish catches to the FAO. Liz Slooten found out that NZ only reports about 5% of its dolphin catches to the IWC. Once upon a time there were more than 2000 Maui dolphins. Those were the days! When Wellington
Harbour was still full of right whales. When you could still catch a groper off the rocks. When you could still roll up your trousers, wade into a
Critically endangered dolphin plus six – really! A new estimate of Māui dolphin numbers is encouraging for the future of the species, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Conservation Minister Maggie Barry say. The preliminary results of a comprehensive scientific survey carried out over the last two summers has estimated the population of the critically endangered dolphin at approximately 63 adults, with 95% confidence there are between 57 and 75. This represents an increase from a 2010-11 survey which esti-
mated the number of adults at 55, with 95% confidence there were between 48 and 69. “These results are encouraging but there is no dispute the Māui population remains at a very low level and the Government remains committed to ensuring their long-term survival,” Ms Barry says. What a load of bollocks! This is com-
them to recover back to 100 individuals. I have spent the 30+ years of my scientific career studying the impact of fishing on these dolphins and am likely to be in my eighties by the time they claw their way back to just Endangered – if they make it. To achieve this, the Ministry for Primary Industries needs to do what it takes to properly protect fish stocks and other marine life. They need to start reporting the true number of marine mammal deaths in fishing gear, rather than reporting only the number of “observed” dolphin deaths from the very small number of observed boats. Frankly, it would take less effort to find real solutions than to pretend the problem doesn’t exist.
ately choose not to use them. The supposed estimate is so inaccurate and with the margin for error the survey could easily be the other way which would mean there are actually less dolphin. We were going to publish the complete PR dribble from MPI but it’s so laughable and complete garbage we decided not to waste valuable space.
Get ready for summer Fishing
By Professor Liz Slooten
Maui dolphins recover. That’s why the International Whaling Commission, IUCN and other international experts have repeatedly urged NZ to do this. What would actually be encouraging? Recovery to 100 Maui dolphins would get them out of Critically Endangered and into the Endangered category. More than 500 Maui dolphins would get them across the line from Endangered to Vulnerable. Now that would be encouraging! This will take time, and much, MUCH better protection measures. If we want Maui dolphins to have any kind of future at all, we need to fully protect them right now. These dolphins have been decimated, literally, to less than 10% of their original population size in just 40 years! It is likely to take 25 years or so for
plete and utter manipulation of the facts. The MPI have done absolutely nothing to stop the industry from continuing to decimate the dolphin while commercial fishers have vowed to kill every last one so they can get back their restricted areas. Guy and Barry must be held personally accountable if the dolphins are found to be in decline as they have the powers to stop any further deaths but deliber-
Check out your Tackle box!
Latest Maui dolphin count encouraging? It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry about the supposedly “encouraging” results of the recent Maui dolphin population survey. In reality, the results are inconclusive. The confidence intervals (margins of error) around the population estimates overlap almost completely. We simply don’t know if the population is increasing, decreasing or stable. The margin of error around the difference between the population estimates includes both population increase and population decline. We could in fact have lost, rather than gained 8 Maui dolphins since 2011. There is certainly no evidence that the current protection measures are working. We do know that switching from gillnets and trawling to selective, sustainable fishing methods would help
rock pool and grab a crayfish for member some of those things. It is dinner. New Zealand must truly incredible that such damage could have been a paradise in those days! occur within one human lifetime. There are still people alive who re-
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