Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
I'm convinced there must be something in the honey that's causing politicians in the Beehive to spew forth with some of the most bizarre decisions imaginable. Even pathetic little things like railroading our education system and the leaders of our schools into banning phones. Can you imagine where we'd be if they had banned computers from schools back in the '80s? Surely phones are part of the answer to rethinking education. And bringing back smoking? Then school lunches – because the politicians are so far removed from poverty they don't see the benefit of these? Then unwinding our nation's cultural identity one road sign at a time until it fits their upper-class pakeha ambition?
I can shake my head at all of that and console myself that most New Zealanders are smarter than the pompous elect. But this past week, when Minister for Fishing, Shane Jones, removed a "mortality limit" for sea lion deaths, my blood boiled. It reminded me of that time when the same Government changed the Doc tagline to Conservation for Prosperity and then systematically cleaned the environmentalists out of the organisation to pave the way for resource exploration.
We're in a frightening cycle – one that I would never have thought we'd return to in this millennium. And they are just getting started. These are dark days.
And for the New Zealand sea lions, which are listed as "Endangered" and projected in decline by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, it's a death knell. Shane Jones has concluded that an unlimited number of deaths may now be caused by commercial fishing in the southern squid trawl fishery. That fishery operates around the Auckland Islands – overlapping directly with sea lion foraging grounds.
And this comes after a 2022/2023 pupping season in the Auckland Islands that showed a 24% decline and has sent scientists scrambling to find out why.
"I think that we've got bigger things to worry about," is all that Shane Jones could offer as he singlehandedly signalled the end of the fishing industry's goal to achieve zero bycatch deaths of protected species by 2050.
The Sea Society's Sian Mair, has written a string of three posts (so far) that delve a bit deeper into the madness coming out of our Ministry for Fishing. Visit the Sea Society right here.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS While visiting Blackhead last week I spotted two boxer dogs harassing a large female sea lion. The owner appeared to either; not be bothered by this, or had no control over the dogs. It's a timely reminder to all dog walkers that the dog control bylaw requires dogs to be on leads within 20m of protected wildlife – failure to do so could see owners face a $300 fine. Furthermore, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, injuring or harassing a sea lion, could result in a fine of $250,000, or 6 months in prison. Please share this reminder with other dog owners ...
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: