Environmental advocates say critically endangered Maui's dolphins still won't be fully protected by new measures announced by the Government which will come into force by the end of the year.
Maui's dolphins. Photo: DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION / R M HAMNER
Under the new rules, a set-net fishing ban will be extended to cover 350-square kilometres of the Taranaki coast.
It will be at a distance of between two and seven nautical miles offshore.
An Environmental Defence Society policy director, Raewyn Peart, says the new measures are a compromise between protecting the dolphins and protecting jobs, when the entire habitat of the Maui's dolphins needs to be protected.
She says there needs to be a move past that balancing approach when a species is so endangered.
It is believed there are only 55 Maui's dolphins left over the age of one.
A Taranaki fishing company says a set net ban imposed to save the Maui's dolphin is not based on science.
Egmont Seafoods managing director Keith Mawson told Morning Report there is no proof the Maui's dolphin is even in the area.
He said this view is supported by Government observers on fishing boats but the Government is not even listening to its own people.
Mr Mawson said the new rules are driven by 'vague and uncertain' public sightings.
The World Wide Fund for Nature says the ban does not go far enough to prevent extinction.
