While ELI welcomes the decision to make the Otago Peninsula set-net closure permanent, we are deeply concerned by the decision to set a Fishing Related Mortality Limit of four hoiho deaths per year in areas outside of the closure.

Although ELI was not successful on the specific grounds of the judicial review, the judgment delivers powerful clarity about the Minister’s legal duties to protect hoiho.

ELI says Fisheries New Zealand needs to act quickly to improve its long-term options for protecting hoiho, as the urgent hearing on emergency measures wrapped up today in the Wellington High Court.