Conservation Groups File Lawsuit Seeking Ban on Seafood Imports From New Zealand

A marine wildlife conservation group and its New Zealand branch filed suit at the Court of International Trade May 21, seeking a ban on imports of fish and fishery products from New Zealand caught using techniques that they say have driven the Maui dolphin to near extinction. Sea Shepherd and Sea Shepherd New Zealand say the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration improperly denied a 2019 petition for a ban under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They say the use of gillnet and trawl nets in the waters around New Zealand have caused the numbers of the Maui dolphin to dwindle from 2,000 in 1970 to just 57 dolphins in 2016. The lawsuit requests that CIT issue a lawsuit banning imports of all fish or fish products caught in, or derived from, New Zealand commercial fisheries that use gillnets or trawl nets that result in the incidental kill or incidental serious injury of Maui dolphins.