Further to the shooting of the NZ sea lion pup
I would like to put another perspective about the recent shooting of a sea lion pup (ODT, 25.9.24) at the Catlins Estuary.
When I read about the sea lion incursion into the Clutha River at Tuapeka some time back I was alarmed.
What were they feeding on so far upstream from the river mouth?
What I would say to Shaun McConkey of the Sea Lion Trust is that these animals do cause harm.
They are lethal predators of trout and salmon.
Whatever the Department of Conservation says, a large number of New Zealanders enjoy fishing for these fish.
I can understand the frustration of local fishermen when sea lions invaded the Catlins Estuary.
What the department needs to do is to investigate ways to capture straying sea lions and relocate them to the sea.
Tasers or tranquillising darts may be necessary.
Otherwise trout and spawning salmon and even eels are threatened big time.
Sea lions, and for that matter seals, can’t be left to invade fresh waters.
[Response from the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust: In regards to what he perceives as a threat that native New Zealand sea lions pose to introduced fish species such as trout and salmon, Mr Walton is offering solutions to a problem that, if it exists at all, has little evidence behind it to support the extreme measures he proposes.
Prior to human arrival, New Zealand sea lions were found around the entire mainland coastline; the population is still struggling to recover from centuries of subsequent anthropogenic pressures, including hunting and habitat destruction. Trout and salmon were brought into the country by British settlers in the late 1800s for sport. There is a substantial body of research that demonstrates the introduction of brown trout led to a rapid and widespread decline of native fish.
While sea lions are certainly capable of foraging for salmon and trout, there is no evidence to support that they are part of a sea lion’s regular diet. Both previous and current research projects show that fish are around a third of their diet, a large proportion of which is barracouta, jack mackerel, and kahawai.
Salmon and brown trout have not been identified in any faecal samples collected and analysed as a part of these studies.
Even when inconvenienced by a 60km swim for her supper, Jade, the female sea lion whose now dead pup was born along the Clutha, seems not to have dined on trout.
Specimens collected from Jade when she was in residence near Lawrence were analysed and found to contain primarily kahawai.
It’s also worth noting that when the time came for her daughter to learn to fish, Jade relocated her out to the coastline where they had stayed ever since.
Mr Walton’s suggestion of capturing native sea lions and "relocating them to the sea" in response to a threat that does not exist, while still ethically dubious, is at least a departure from his direct email correspondence to the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust last month, in which he floated the idea of tasering sea lions as a deterrent to eating introduced fish.
Mr Walton’s choice of words ("incursion", "invasion", "straying") suggests, at a minimum, a lack of understanding of the ecology of this native species, and further, smacks of a colonial-tinged sense of entitlement over the natural environment that should perhaps have remained in the 1860s with the folks who introduced the brown trout in the first place.
[No further correspondence will be entered in to on this topic. — Ed.]
Walkie-talkie explosions cold-hearted and cruel
Your columnist Gwynne Dyer (ODT, 23.9.24) gave a full account of the recent exploding pagers (and walkie-talkies) in Lebanon, a manoeuvre he described as technically and operationally brilliant.
Nothing more has since been reported on this, but maybe it is not a matter that should be easily forgotten.
Though Israel clearly has the right to defend itself, civilised people should stand aghast at the cold-hearted and malicious resolve that could meticulously plan such an attack many years ago: planned for the anticipated need of the pagers, embedding the explosive device and triggering mechanism that would set off these explosives on signal many years later a minute after an alert had been sent, that would have found most users holding the device in hand when the detonation took place.
Technically and operationally brilliant, yes, and cold-hearted, cruel and malicious. Planned and executed in minute detail over years by the Israeli government.
Selling SI to Australia
David Cohen (Letters, 5.10.24) got me thinking. His lauding of the government cuts to expenditure especially. He forgot to mention the large handout to the tobacco industry. But maybe that’s part of the grand plan? Kill enough of us off with tobacco products, shift the rest to Auckland, (plenty of room there, they will also die from the tobacco products) then sell the South Island to Australia.
Hey, there’s a thought!
The South should perhaps secede from New Zealand, and become the latest State of Australia. Cheap skiing holidays for Aussies in return for entry into their health system? Perfect, let’s go for it.
Problems with parcel delivery on peninsula
"Door to door"? Oh please.
Can NZ Post (and the courier companies who contract it to make deliveries) stop pretending that there is a courier service to the Otago Peninsula, or at least our part of it. Parcels do not get delivered here. Instead, we get a note telling us to pick up our own parcels. We used to have to go in and pick them up from the depot in Strathallan St, which was annoying to those of us with cars and who knows what people without cars did. Now the depot’s closed and the pickup is the South Dunedin Post Office, much further away and where the parking is difficult. We got a notice to pick up a parcel on 13 September. The courier had "missed" us — we were there, but the courier came at 4am so of course they missed us. I went to the Post Office. The parcel wouldn’t be there until the next day. The notice had cheery messages to say we could get it redelivered — for free — so I went online and scheduled a redelivery. I got another cheery notice on 17 September to say the courier had "missed" us (another 4am dropoff). So my husband went to the Post Office. He parked and then waited while the staff dealt with angry customers whose parcels hadn't been delivered. Eventually he gave up and came home. Five days later, we’re on the point of giving up.
[NZ Post response: "NZ Post is sorry to hear of this customer’s experience and apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused. We are reaching out to the customer to apologise directly."]
Hospital carpark
I am wondering where Rebecca Young (ODT, 8.10.24) thinks all the folk who have to travel for hours to get to Dunedin hospital are going to park, if carparking is scrapped from the rebuild? Especially as so many services are based there.
Even supermarkets are required to provide carparks for clients.
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