Fisher Says Maui Dolphins Are Not Off The Taranaki Coast

Maui Dolphin Protection Areas

Ansley’s fishing effort from 2012 to July 2015

Rob Ansley, owner of Ocean Pearl Fisheries, has been fishing along the Taranaki and south Waikato coasts for the majority of his life.

He said Maui dolphins are not where the environmental groups claims they are.

“I left school at the age of 16, in 1986, and went commercial fishing. 31 years at sea and I’ve never seen one,” Ansley said.

In 2012, the Government extended the existing set-netting bans with a further closure from Pariokariwa Point to Hawera out to two nautical miles, with the aim of reducing the risk to Maui dolphins.

The ban extends to seven nautical miles for commercial fishers unless a Ministry for Primary Industries observer is on-board.

Then in 2013, the Conservation Minister Nick Smith banned all set-netting to seven nautical miles between Pariokariwa Point and Waiwhakaiho River.

 “Four and a half years; 1,000 fishing days with an observer on-board and not a single sighting,” Ansley said.

“And I wasn't avoiding the areas that they thought the dolphins would be in.

“Every day we'd come back along the beaches where they believed they would be and nothing.”

About 75 percent of the time we were set-netting and 25 percent of the time we were longlining, he said.

Ansley is so frustrated with the Government over its handling of the closures he wants observers on-board every time he fishes.

“But now the Government won't put them on my boat because I'm just longlining. I offered to carry them and they just flat out refused to put one on. I want to prove these dolphins aren't here.”

Ansley once had 18 staff. Now it’s just him left.

“Before the closures, my factory, which I had built just four years earlier, was putting through 50 to 70 tonne of warehou, 20 tonne of rig and quite a bit of trevally.

“Last season I think it was seven tonne of warehou and 10 tonne of rig.

“It's made it uneconomical to fish really and a lot of guys have been forced out of the industry.”

Ansley said it was again time to make changes.

“I’m all for protecting Maui dolphins, but I’ve had 1,000 days of MPI observer coverage and not a single sighting. Our management must be based on evidence so I reckon it’s time for another look at some of these closures. These dolphins simply don’t live here.”