Kia ora tātou,

Thank you for signing our petition to the New Zealand Government, calling on them to stop the NZ fishing industry destroying ancient coral forests on seamounts and other hotspots of ocean life. More than 50,000 people joined together to support this cause! These deep-sea corals are the kauri of our oceans, and can take hundreds of years to grow, but can be destroyed by a single trawl.

Next week we’ll be taking our message to Parliament! Your voice will be heard by the Ministers in charge of managing our fisheries and protecting our ocean. We’ve created a larger-than-life deep sea coral model (it’s actually based on this paragorgia or “bubblegum” coral, that was destroyed and dumped overboard by a New Zealand trawler). We’re printing the names of everyone that signed our petitions on the model coral, and delivering it to Parliament.

Your name will be on the coral. 

If you’re in Wellington you are welcome to join us on Wednesday 18 November, at 12 noon on Parliament lawn. We’ll be handing over the coral model and our petition at 12.30 pm, and it would be great to see you there.

On behalf of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition,

Karli