Fisheries Minister Shane Jones decision to ignore his
ministry officials advice on greater protection for the
seriously endangered yellow-eyed penguins on the north Otago
coast, raises serious questions says Conservative Party
leader Helen Houghton.
Fisheries Minister Shane Jones
has instead chosen a smaller set net ban area than ministry
officials thought would best protect endangered yellow-eyed
penguins, according to a newly released
document.
Instead minister Jones has chosen a much
smaller stretch of coastline, stretching eight nautical
miles to sea from the Taieri River mouth to Karitane.
Ministry advice was to head 50 kms further north to the
Kakanui River.
“One of many questions arising is why
bother to employ a ministry when its advice is ignored,”
said Helen Houghton.
“Secondly does the minister
think he knows better than the ministry?”
The
ministry recommended a fishing-related mortality limit
tolerance of three or four but the minister initially
selected a tolerance of six, exactly in line with the
submission of corporate fishing company Sealords but in the
end according to reports gave way to four.
The yellow
eyed penguin (hoiho) is said to be down to just 115 nests
and was declining by 20 percent a year.
“The
minister’s measures are not enough,” said Helen
Houghton. “Four penguins were killed in the 2025 fishing
year and five in 2024. Clearly four is a half baked
measure.”
Helen Houghton said there were questions
about an alleged conflict of interest with Shane Jones as
Minister of Fisheries.
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“Jones has a documented track
record of political donations from corporate fishing
companies, was chairman of Sealords for several years and
his immediate family are involved in commercial fishing. Is
that a conflict of interest or not?” she
asked.
Helen Houghton said the minister was very quick
to defend commercial fishing when he was reported as saying
“the fishing sector has been demonised and that a lot of the
threats to the hoiho are actually land-based, giving
examples of stray dogs and diseases. “It’s not just the
hardworking men and women who go out on boat and catch fish
for commercial purposes” he said.
“However a cause
to consider its that commercial fishing has over-fished
stocks that are the hoiho’s food.
Decrease the food
supply and the penguin population falls.”
She noted
that in a recent article “starvation” was cited as a
cause of plummeting penguin numbers.
“Doesn’t that
suggest a possible cause is a disrupted food chain due to
over-fishing? It certainly needs close credible scrutiny
rather than brushing it off by
bleating.”
