The Government has received a boost in its bid to overturn a ban on Kiwi seafood imports into the United States, with New Zealand’s fisheries systems given the seal of approval by an American regulator.
However, an end to the years-long saga remains elusive, with further court hearings set to take place before a final decision is made on whether to lift or maintain the ban permanently to protect critically endangered Māui dolphins.
In December 2022, the US Court of International Trade temporarily banned the import of nine species of fish from the North Island’s west coast, after Sea Shepherd successfully argued the New Zealand government was not doing enough to protect critically endangered Māui dolphins’ nearby habitat.
The marine conservation group had first sought a ban in 2019, but was initially knocked back by US officials – only for the court to rule in its favour.
The country’s National Marine Fisheries Service last week issued new “comparability findings” assessing New Zealand’s fisheries against those of the US, and declaring they met the criteria for the ban to be lifted.
The fisheries service said the New Zealand government had adopted regulations to effectively manage fisheries threats, including a “management trigger” that would allow the immediate imposition of new restrictions if a single Māui dolphin died in their official habitat zone.
Fishing efforts in the area had dropped by 71 percent for trawl fleet and 97 percent for the set net fleet since the 2020-21 fishing year, while monitoring efforts were on the rise.
New Zealand’s updated Māui dolphin threat management plan provided clear objectives to government agencies, while current restrictions “virtually eliminate the bycatch risk from set-nets and significantly reduce the trawl bycatch risk for Māui dolphins in this area”.
In July last year, Sea Shepherd’s case against the US and New Zealand governments was put on hold until the fisheries service issued its comparability findings.
The court ruled the parties would have two weeks to consider the fisheries service’s decision and provide submissions on whether they wished to proceed with the case and the next steps.
Sea Shepherd NZ managing director Michael Lawry told Newsroom the regulator’s findings would bring the court case back to life, given the group still believed the Government was not doing enough to protect Māui dolphins from bycatch risk.
“I think they’re pretty brave to grant it [the resumption of imports], considering what the judge has already said and how slowly the science moves.”
Lawry said Sea Shepherd NZ was working with its US counterparts and legal counsel to discuss the next steps, and remained confident of winning the case and continuing the ban.
Seafood New Zealand chief executive Dr Jeremy Helson told Newsroom the news was a positive development for the country’s commercial fishers.
“We are confident that the US government has made the correct decision and has effectively endorsed the New Zealand approach,” Helson said, noting the regulator’s decision would still need to be signed off by the court.
While the legal process had gone on, Kiwi fishers had “invested considerable effort into changing how they fish to make extra sure they aren’t putting marine mammals in harm’s way”, and were working with NGOs on technology to provide up-to-date information about the latest dolphin locations.
“The white water seems to have diminished, but we are dealing with Sea Shepherd and they’re a very determined group.”
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones told Newsroom the latest decision was “an improvement as to where we were”, although it was possible there would be further hurdles that still needed to be cleared.
“The white water seems to have diminished, but we are dealing with Sea Shepherd and they’re a very determined group.”
Jones said there had been significant changes in the types of fishing that were now taking place off the coast of Taranaki, while New Zealand’s quota management system was as good as anywhere else in the world.
The minister argued Sea Shepherd had “chosen to deprecate the interests of the working families of the area in favour of mammals, adding: “That is obviously their right because we live in a democracy”.
