New Zealand’s shame !!!!!

Jo Bryant,

When the Yangtze River dolphin went extinct people all over the world were shocked and dismayed – but now New Zealand could become the first country to oversee the extinction of a marine dolphin in over 50 years.

This year, both the International Whaling Commission and the World Conservation Congress urged the New Zealand Government to take immediate measures to protect Maui’s dolphin.

A group of New Zealand experts identified bycatch in fishing nets as the key threat to the dolphins, and provided advice on management for the area in which they are found.

The measures in place so far, and the current proposal by the Ministry of Primary Industries, fall far short of these expert recommendations. [sourced from Greenpeace‘s petition site]

If you want to know more about the Maui Dolphin read this Blogpost by Karli Thomas

Please sign this petition!!!! There are only a few hours left to get the required number to petition the New Zealand Government to do something before it is too late.

To sign the petition click here on: The Maui’s Last Stand. For it truly may be just that.

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Published by Jo Bryant

I was born in the land of Banjo Paterson, gum trees, and weather extremes. I am a freelance photographer. I love to make images that make people happy. To capture forever a precious moment. I am also a freelance writer/editor. I live in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, but still like to claim my Australian heritage. I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications in 2008. I am writing my first novel. I love to write poetry, short stories, and also write for the web. And there is nothing that is on a par with a sunny summer's day spent at Waihi Beach.

47 Comments

          1. One of the better aspects of having accrued a few years is the confirmation that everything is cyclical. Which probably means one of the worst things about is the fear that one won’t last to see the cycle turn – but in politics (even in Burma, where I’d really begun to believe I’d never see the end of the junta) the cycle seems to turn more swiftly than of yore.

            Hang in there, and keep writing 🙂

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    1. No Ioanna, it seems we can’t. What I hate most is that New Zealand lays claim to being ‘clean, green and an animal advocate’ yet behind the veil of government so many things occur that daily horrify me. We have hens and pigs that spend their lives in atrocious conditions before they are slaughtered. We impose weak sentences on those that commit atrocities towards these innocent and helpless creatures and in the pursuit of good will from large corporations, powerful countries and the dollar, New Zealand allows shameful episodes such as this to occur. The media here is also responsible as it doesn’t hold the government to account for these issues but rather keeps them out of the public arena where they could be debated and addressed.

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      1. I know what you mean Jo… We have similar situations here in Greece too. But lately cruelty over stray animals has risen…. i am a member in a few local animal welfare groups and honestly i can’t even start to understand how people can be so cruel or blind over this! I don’t know, i am afraid i have lost hope over this issue….

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        1. I am so glad to hear about you being involved in welfare groups. They need people like you Ioanna. I feel that way too sometimes…but you have to keep hoping there are more like us than the rest.

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    1. I know Gilly. I know. The media has kept it quiet for a long time here and we are only just finding out about it all. I just hope it is not too late to halt their extinction. Not that I feel the New Zealand government gives a damn. The money and goodwill from the fishing industry is too important to them.

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    1. Marianne New Zealand is terrible when it comes to being advocates for the animals that fall within its domain. A sad but true fact these days. Our government cares more for placating large industries than it does for protecting animal rights.

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    1. I agree AD. New Zealand is not the ‘clean and green’ nation it wants the world to think it is. It has gone from a nation that told America [and the world] to go elsewhere with nuclear power to a nation that sucks up to countries for trade agreements, corporations and industries for a slice of the money pie, and anyone else it thinks it can get money out of. I hate how much we have lost as a nation because of these money grubbing politicians and their cohorts in big business.

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        1. There are some that try to do the right thing. Most don’t operate from a base of power though…at least not here, so every step forward is slow and usually comes at a cost as they have to give something to get something. I wonder what happened to people going in to politics to do good, to cause change. Ever since we [here in NZ at least] upped the monetary salaries and perks for politicians we attract a very different beast to the arena.

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  9. Been on and signed the petition. What a terrible thing, the destruction of such beautiful creatures. Man must be the most devastating thing to ever have happened to this planet. Thank you for raising awareness.

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    1. Thank you for signing the petition. Man has a lot to answer for with respect of violations to our planet…a lot to answer for. But there are those out there fighting the good fight. People like you who do sign petitions.
      🙂

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  11. Sad is it not when a species is lost, an all that remains is just a name on the extinction list. When will global man realize the oceans and seas are not a renewable resource. Hope this is not the future for the maui, another ‘wake up call’ will little or no response. This is a species that should be protected with extreme prejudice and a heavy hand, no piss’n around (excuse my french). Gone are the days when governments just govern it’s territory and the people on it, they have to govern the waters around them from the people, be it their own or outsiders.

    Not related, but kinda sorta. I listened intently the other day to an interview on CBC Radio Canada with a scientist who was using the data from DNA which identified two beached whales whom had washed ashore in New Zealand in the summer of 2010. The mother and calf were assumed to be a more common species of beaked whale but were determined to be a never seen ALIVE in the last hundred and fifty years or so, that of a distinct species known as the spad-toothed beaked whale. The ocean(s) are vast an hold more secrets then it shares -extraordinary to think that it could hide from man the spad-toothed -nature does try to protect itself it seems but the odds are often stacked against it. So, I will try to be optimistic for the maui, but man do we not have to get our ‘you know what’ together.

    You fight for a good cause Jo Bryant.

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    1. I am so mad about it all. New Zealand [like every country] didn’t always get it right, but man we tried. These days it is all about chasing the all mighty dollar and the rest be damned. Did you know that lately also there was a convention of nations that voted on the Ross Sea? The Ross Sea in in the Antarctic and the last ocean in the world that is not irrevocably changed by man to date. New Zealand was the only nation to vote against adding protections to guard against its decimation. It has been revealed that New Zealand is one of the nations that started fishing down there. The Tooth Fish – also known as Chilean Sea Bass [because it sounds better and people will eat it] has been fished down there to the point where in 5 years scientists have gone from finding, tagging and releasing hundreds every summer to being lucky to get 10. Fishing vessels come from as afar as Europe because they have over fished their own waters. They search for the Tooth Fish and the bycatch is toss overboard later. Our government justifies this with talk of regulating it. But the eco system there is fragile and we are changing it so that rich people in American cities can eat Chilean Sea Bass. God I get so mad I want to scream.

      My sense of frustration grows and torments me as I watch all of these inexplicable actions.

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      1. Actually I have been eying the toothfish (since reading a couple books on the Atlantic) as it is a target fish as was the Grand Banks Cod and as a deep cold water species share many similarities. The Grand Banks Cod fish is perfect example of a Government caught in an out right lie regarding the health an sustainability of a fish stock to appease its constituency. The bitch and complained for years on foreign vessels to stay out. Once they got their own way, they proceeded to invest and allow a vessels from Newfoundland to such out the stocks at an even greater pace till the stocks vanished. Now with the Atlantic waters warming and rising each year it is unclear if the cod will ever fully recover. So I don’t blame you for being angry and I think your view point is just to suspect. It does appear on the surface New Zealand could be doing the same to the determent of the antarctic toothfish.

        It makes one think who do you trust. For I awhile I thought the British were doing what was needed to protect stocks in and around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands as they were the first to implement and strictly enforce, the Marine Stewardship Council certification which helped the Patagonian toothfish (though I must admit I some times fell anything that has a certification stamp of approval is merely justification for the trendy to carry on their habits with a good conscience which means little if governments don’t enforce the rules harshly). I think that is what is now being setup for the Antarctic toothfish is it not?

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        1. I actually cried during this documentary. So much about it astounded me. But two things just made me want to howl with rage.
          1. They had the officials come over to certify various fishing companies as being ‘sustainable fishers’. A scientist [American] who has been going to the Antarctic for decades went along to meet them and ask some pertinent questions about how they know that they can sustain the Tooth Fish. He asked if they knew about its breeding cycle. When does it first breed ? Where is its spawning grounds ? How often do they breed ? They had answers to NONE of his questions. So little is known about the life cycle of the Tooth Fish it is impossible to know that they can sustain its population while fishing for it in these numbers. Yet they still gave companies such as Sealord their approval to carry the “sustainable fishing” logo.
          2. The vessels use drag lines. The amount of bycatch is phenomenal. All the bycatch is tossed back in to the sea – dead.
          It makes me want to hop on a Greenpeace ship and go harass them.

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          1. Well if anyone would be likely to join in an harass it would be you.

            I hear you on the long liners, they are filthy disgusting floating indiscriminate pillagers of the seas -the maui dolphin can bear testament by of way gill net and trawler operations within their habit. I would think your Prime Minister John Key would see the good of implementing the practices necessary, I guess he doesn’t see any political gain in saving the maui. Time for a new PM ?

            When it comes to toothfish, we humans can get our protein elsewhere can’t we? I doubt if the fish protein is going to feed starving humans. Its going to the plate of those who can afford to pay the highest price -period. That alone should be reason to ban factory ships from a otherwise human-less region as the Ross Sea and Antarctic waters. When it comes to the maui’s dwindling numbers that to should be all the reason John Keys needs to set aside off limit sanctuaries and doing what can be done.

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        2. “Well if anyone would be likely to join in an harass it would be you.”
          Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
          Our John Key is a corporate suck up !!! I can no longer even bear to watch the man on TV. He is arrogant and thinks nothing of the opinions of everyday new Zealanders. He treats us like small children who don’t know what is the right thing or what is good for us. He has forgotten the most important thing a politician needs to remember…he is there to do what the majority of the people of New Zealand want. We had a referendum a while back. An anti-smacking law was introduced…supposedly to address the problem of child abuse. New Zealand has a terrible record of it. The law however, does nothing to stop child abuse. Whether or not you agree with smacking a child…I was smacked occasionally and it really didn’t hurt me…the fact is good parents do sometimes smack. These same parents can now be arrested as the law stands. For one smack. It is a ridiculous law that does nothing to address the REAL issue. New Zealanders demanded a referendum. Over 80% voted to rescind or change the law. John Key’s response: “You don’t really want that. And I don’t think you understand the law. So no, we will not listen to the people. We will not change the law.” Whether or not you agree/disagree…the majority spoke and he told them to “Fuck off!!!”
          So no our Mr John Key is not the Prime Minister New Zealand deserves or needs. He’s just the one they bloody well voted in because New Zealanders as a whole these days are quite ill-informed and often apethetic. I often hear them say: “It won’t help. Nothing will change. What’s the point?” With attitudes like that sadly nothing will change.

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  14. This is such a travesty! It’s so sad to hear this. I had this naive mental image of New Zealand as miles and miles of greenery and everything that’s unspoiled and true to to the earth. So sad to hear about this.

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    1. So did many of us Madhu. Greenpeace gave these artworks to 55 of our parlimentary ministers this week…hoping to raise awareness and obtain some help in the fight to put aside the area they inhabit as a marine reserve safe from fishing. Aren’t they beautiful ?

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