Small NZ charity takes big swing at US government in bid to protect endangered dolphins

Source: Radio New Zealand

A David and Goliath case is unfolding as a tiny charity takes another swing at the US government at the Court of International Trade in a bid to protect endangered dolphins.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders NZ – which has one part-time employee – won a case in August last year when the Court of International Trade (CIT) found the US government’s decision to allow fish imports from set net and trawl fisheries on the west coast of New Zealand was “arbitrary and capricious”, and violated US federal law.

But the NZ government says it has confidence in the “extensive measures” in place to protect Hector’s and Māui dolphins, and was working closely with the US to address the court’s findings.

Under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), an import ban must be imposed if a country does not apply similar protections against bycatch to those in place in US waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issues annual comparability findings, determinations that cover around 2500 fisheries in 135 nations, comparing standards in each fishery to the US.

A string of litigation over New Zealand’s comparability dates back several years and has already resulted in injunctions, import bans and reversals.

Conservation organisation Sea Shepherd first sought to have nine species of fish from the North Island’s west coast caught in set nets and trawling banned in 2019 on the grounds the government was not doing enough to protect critically endangered Māui dolphins.

Rejected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the group appealed to the Court of International Trade in a case against the US Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, NOAA Fisheries and the Treasury Department.

The New Zealand government joined the action as a defendant in 2020.

In 2022, the court ordered a temporary injunction, banning the fish imports from the two fisheries.

That ban was overturned in 2024 with a decision memorandum from the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, which led to the court dismissing the case.

The first of Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defender’s challenges in December 2024 saw its lawyers argue the comparability finding failed to apply US marine mammal bycatch standards, including that fisheries may not have “more than a negligible impact on a marine mammal population”.

In August 2025, the Court of International Trade found in favour of MHDD, ruling the decision to allow fish imported from the west coast fisheries violated federal law.

Judge Choe-Groves issued a scathing opinion, noting the memorandum which overturned the ban was a “cursory seven page document … replete with conclusory statements and cites minimal evidence”.

The court found the determination contained “vague conclusions”, “no citations to record evidence at all”, and inconsistencies between the New Zealand government’s claims and US fisheries agency conclusions.

Judge Choe-Groves vacated the memorandum, but declined to impose a new import ban. But she warned that if the fisheries agency NOAA continued to rely on the be “arbitary and unlawful” memorandum, a ban could yet be implemented.

Days after the court’s ruling, NOAA’s fisheries service issued its latest comparability findings, which found New Zealand’s standards did meet US standards.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders was challenging that finding in its new claim, which included fish caught in both Māui and Hector’s dolphin habitats.

Chairperson Christine Rose said “taking on the US government is not something we take lightly”, but the group had the support of legal teams from Earthjustice and Law of the Wild who were taking the case on their behalf, as well as the New Zealand public.

“People really love Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins. They’re so iconic. They’re easily seen from the New Zealand shoreline. They generate $24.5 million dollars in tourism every year in Canterbury alone, but that’s where the bulk of the deaths are being executed by the fishing industry.”

There was also a reputational risk to the country.

“We make so much mileage out of being environmentally progressive and clean and green, and yet at the same time we’ve got [Fisheries Minister] Shane Jones pretending that Maui dolphins don’t exist. That doesn’t look good in the court of international law either, when he’s arguing against world leading scientists and genetics, he’s arguing against his own government.”

Jones has repeatedly asserted Māui dolphins “do not exist”, and were instead a sub species of Hector’s dolphins.

‘Extensive measures’ in place

Ministry for Primary Industries spokesperson Charlotte Denny said the ministry was aware of the latest court filing, and would work with the US government to determine the next steps.

The ministry was confident in the effectiveness of New Zealand’s fisheries management system, including its environmental outcomes, and had “extensive measures” in place to protect Hector’s and Māui dolphins, based on the best available scientific information and consultation with New Zealanders, she said.

The government has been “working closely” with the US to address matters raised in the August court findings, and has since had a new favourable comparability finding issued in September, Denny said.

Māui dolphins are the world’s rarest and smallest dolphin, and are considered critically endangered. Hector’s dolphins – which are thought to number around 15,000 – are nationally vulnerable. Both are only found in New Zealand.

The most recent Department of Conservation survey, carried out in 2021, puts the population of Māui dolphins over one year of age at around 54.

Rose said the likely number was lower, around 48 dolphins.

“The survival of the Māui dolphin population depends on perhaps 12 mature females. Set net and trawl fishing are indiscriminate, and are the main direct causes of human induced mortality of both Māui dolphins, found on the west coast of the North Island, and Hector’s, found elsewhere around New Zealand.

“We believe the case for a US fisheries import ban to protect both Māui and Hector’s dolphins is a strong one. Experts and evidence back up our findings. At least 21 Hector’s dolphins have been killed by set nets and trawlers since the roll-out of cameras on some of the fishing fleet in October 2023,” she said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand