Weblog
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 2:13 pm – Posted by Kirstie_Knowles | 11 Comments
Well it’s official. 113 is the new kill quota for our threatened New Zealand sea lions – a 40% increase on last year’s quota. Set by the new Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley, the quota determines how many sea lions the Auckland Island squid fishery can kill in the 2009 fishing season.
Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:28 am – Posted by Kirstie_Knowles | 7 Comments
New Zealand sea lions once ranged right around our coastline, however today they are largely restricted to the isolated islands of the Sub-Antarctic – with over 85% of breeding at the Auckland Islands.
Each summer the Auckland Island squid trawl fishery takes to these water with large trawl nets that scoop up squid. As well as picking up squid however, the fishing nets catch a number of sea lions. As rule-maker & whistle-blower, one of the first questions facing the new Minister of Fisheries – Phil Heatley - is how many sea-lions can be killed this season?
Thu, 13 Nov 2008 9:09 am – Posted by Helen | 9 Comments
Well, well, well, as I predicted in my pre-election blog (OK, so it was hardly long odds or a wild bet) we have a new government. The question is now, what’s in it for conservation?
At the moment, we’re waiting to see who gets the ministerial posts of most interest to us here at Forest & Bird: Conservation, Environment, Climate Change (if they have a specific minister with responsibility for climate change this time round), Energy, Agriculture, Land Information and Fisheries.
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