Sea lion specialists who have conducted historical population modelling have shown that pakake have never recovered from our mass killing of them throughout Sealing. Today, contrary to some reports, pakake are classified as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and their current population is approximately 12,000; the majority of which reside in the inhospitable Subantarctic Islands.
On mainland New Zealand/Aotearoa, there are approximately only 500 individuals, and they reside on the south-east coast and on Stewart Island/Rakiura.
As reported by The Post, Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has recently scrapped the Fishing Related Mortality Limit (FRML) of 52 fisheries-related pakake deaths per year. This is a travesty and a mistake.
Whilst pakake pup births have reached a record high on mainland Aotearoa – of 31 pups born in Dunedin/Ōtepoti in 2023/24; this win does not balance out the losses to the pakake population in the Subantarctic Islands – which in 2022/23 saw a record decline in pup births – at 24%!
After nearly four years of voluntarily advocating for pakake rights, I am devastated. Join me in (diplomatically) demanding Shane Jones and his party revoke this decision.