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Press release:- Conservative Party Fisheries Minister Shane Jones decision to ignore his ministry officials advice on greater protection for the seriously endangered yellow-eyed penguins on the north Otago coast, raises serious questions says Conservative Party leader Helen Houghton.
Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has instead chosen a smaller set net ban area than ministry officials thought would best protect endangered yellow-eyed penguins, according to a newly released document. Instead minister Jones has chosen a much smaller stretch of coastline, stretching eight nautical miles to sea from the Taieri River mouth to Karitane. Ministry advice was to head 50 kms further north to the Kakanui River. “One of many questions arising is why bother to employ a ministry when its advice is ignored,” said Helen Houghton. “Secondly does the minister think he knows better than the ministry?”
The ministry recommended a fishing-related mortality limit tolerance of three or four but the minister initially selected a tolerance of six, exactly in line with the submission of corporate fishing company Sealords but in the end according to reports gave way to four. The yellow eyed penguin (hoiho) is said to be down to just 115 nests and was declining by 20 percent a year. “The minister’s measures are not enough,” said Helen Houghton. “Four penguins were killed in the 2025 fishing year and five in 2024. Clearly four is a half baked measure.”
Helen Houghton said there were questions about an alleged conflict of interest with Shane Jones as Minister of Fisheries. “Jones has a documented track record of political donations from corporate fishing companies, was chairman of Sealords for several years and his immediate family are involved in commercial fishing. Is that a conflict of interest or not?” she asked.
Helen Houghton said the minister was very quick to defend commercial fishing when he was reported as saying “the fishing sector has been demonised and that a lot of the threats to the hoiho are actually land-based, giving examples of stray dogs and diseases. “It’s not just the hardworking men and women who go out on boat and catch fish for commercial purposes” he said. “However a cause to consider its that commercial fishing has over-fished stocks that are the hoiho’s food. Decrease the food supply and the penguin population falls.”
She noted that in a recent article “starvation” was cited as a cause of plummeting penguin numbers. “Doesn’t that suggest a possible cause is a disrupted food chain due to over-fishing? It certainly needs close credible scrutiny rather than brushing it off by bleating.”
Helen Houghton – questions about Shane Jones
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