Invercargill, Feb 1 NZPA - The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society and Greenpeace are pleading with Fisheries Minister John Luxton to suspend squid fishing in the Auckland Island region after the mysterious deaths of around 1000 hooker's sea lion pups.
The Forest and Bird Society contacted Mr Luxton on Saturday, asking him to invoke emergency powers under the Fisheries Act to stop fishing in the area.
The society is expecting a response first thing tomorrow morning.
The squid season is scheduled to begin tomorrow and 40 boats are already understood to be in the area.
Forest and Bird society spokesman Barry Weeber said squid boats had killed an estimated 330 adult hooker's sea lions in the past three years.
There were only 15,000 hooker's sea lions in New Zealand and they were a protected species under the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
They were the rarest sea lion species in the world, he said.
Any preventable deaths, such as those caused by squid boats' nets, had to be avoided.
For this reason Mr Luxton had to act quickly.
``In light of these unexplained deaths, there are just too many uncertainties to allow the fishery to continue this year,'' Mr Weeber said.
``We don't know how many adult sea lions have died, and if these deaths have been caused by disease many more sea lions could die in the coming months.''
Greenpeace spokesman Michael Szabo said the squid boats presented a ``clear and present danger'' to the sea lions.
He held grave concerns for their safety.
``There are still enormous amounts of them dying from an unexplained plague. International experience of similar epidemics shows many more could continue to die.
``It is therefore completely irresponsible to introduce another threat to them at this time.''
Environmental groups' unity on this issue was an indication of the seriousness of the situation and urgent action was required, he said.
Mr Szabo said suspending squid fishing around the Auckland Islands would not prevent boats from operating in more lucrative areas around the mainland of New Zealand.
Meanwhile, samples taken from dead sea lions are now being examined at Massey University.
Department of Conservation (DOC) marine mammal expert Mike Donoghue said extensive testing would follow and a preliminary determination of what was killing the sea lions could be available next week.
Overseas scientists had been contacted for help as well as expert toxicologists and water quality authorities from around the country.
DOC would be updating Mr Luxton and Conservation Minister Nick Smith on the situation, he said.