SQU6T Sea Lion Final Advice Paper.

The Minister has recently made his decision on measures to manage the interaction between squid fishing vessels operating in SQU6T and the New Zealand sea lion. The Minister has decided to:

• Set a fishing related mortality limit (FRML) of 93 sea lions and to put in place procedures to monitor sea lion bycatch against this limit.
• Apply a pre-determined strike rate of 5.3% in the fishery
• Apply a discount factor of 20% for vessels that deploy an approved sea lion exclusion device (SLED).
• Close the fishery if the FRML is reached.

The attached document is a copy of the Final Advice Paper provided to the Minister of Fisheries by the Ministry of Fisheries setting out options for managing the interactions between squid vessels operating in SQU6T and the New Zealand sea lion.

 Final Advice Paper (PDF 313kb).

The attached document is a summary of the submissions received on the Initial Position Paper which set out the potential options to manage the interactions between the squid vessels operating in SQU6T and the New Zealand sea lion. These submissions contributed to the development of the Final Advice Paper which was presented to the Minister on 8 November 2006.

 Summary of submissions recieved (PDF 80kb).