Whale bone and whale strandings review
Consultation closed: 1 March 2008
The public was invited to comment on proposals to manage domestic trade in whale bone and the role of Maori in the management of whale strandings. Submissions have now closed.
DOC commissioned Enfocus Consulting Ltd to prepare an independent summary of submissions received, which is available below. It is also available from Department of Conservation offices by request.
Summary of submissions
The review
This review sought comment on two proposals:
- An improved regulatory regime that would enable the domestic trade in whale bone to be managed simply and efficiently, without compromising the protected status of whales.
- Statutory recognition in the Marine Mammals Protection Act of the role of tangata whenua in the management of whale stranding events.
Summary of submissions
Domestic trade in whale bone
The Marine Mammals Protection Act controls the sale or gifting of whale bone and items made from whale bone. This is important to ensure that whale bone is not illegally obtained.
The actual control system in the law is, however, agreed by everyone to be unworkable. As a result, it is not enforced, and trade in whale bone items is mostly technically illegal.
A proposal for fixing this problem was put out for public discussion. Submissions on the proposal supported the idea of producing a new regime, but did not agree that the one proposed was optimal.
The Department is examining the options proposed in submissions, and will discuss alternative approaches with submitters in order to develop a robust but simple mechanism to manage trade. It is hoped that a new proposal will be ready for consideration by the Government by the end of the year.
The role of Maori in the management of whale strandings
When whales strand, the Department needs to respond rapidly. In some cases whales must be euthanased, in other cases there are opportunities to re-float the animals. Those whales which die need to be disposed of if they are in areas where decaying carcasses would be a nuisance or health threat.
Maori have a strong interest in the way stranded whales are managed. This connection between Maori and whales is recognised in the Conservation General Policy through a policy requiring tangata whenua to be notified of strandings and involved in their management in accordance with those protocols.
The discussion paper proposed to strengthen the statutory recognition of the role of tangata whenua in the management of whale strandings by including this provision in the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
The proposals for statutory recognition were proposed in a discussion document, and were generally supported in submissions.
It is expected that detailed legislation proposals would be developed by the end of the year.
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