Recently our Operation Pahu Crew patrolled the eastern side of Foveaux Strait. The Catlins Hector’s subpopulation is believed to migrate around into Toetoes Bay during the autumn to spring seasons. This is a very vulnerable subpopulation with only approximately fifty individuals remaining. Population surveys over the past thirty years have seen the numbers remain stagnant. One human introduced death could have devastating long term consequences.
On this day the crew were pretty happy to sight three Pahu but they were extremely disappointed to find a disregarded set net within the habitat. Gillnets have been responsible for the death of thousands of Pahu since the introduction of filament nets in the 1970’s. Its been illegal since 2008 to set a net within 2nm off the coast within Foveaux Strait.
