Lost Livestock Export Ship: Political Party Views on Live Animal Exports After the Gulf Livestock 1 Tragedy

By Riley Kennedy of RNZ

The sinking of the Gulf Livestock 1 cattle export ship is prompting calls to ban the shipment of live animals.

Gulf Livestock 1 left Napier on August 14 with 43 crew members, including two New Zealanders, and 5,800 head of cattle on board. The ship sent a distress signal in the early hours of Wednesday morning and has not been located.

Japanese rescue teams have so far found three survivors: two Filipinos and a third person who later died.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor distanced himself from the incident and declined all requests from the media.

But he released a statement saying his thoughts were with friends and family of the crew, and that officers were investigating.

Currently, the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is conducting a review of New Zealand’s live cattle export regulations,

In 2007 a conditional ban on the export of cattle, sheep, goats and deer for slaughter was introduced. The current revision is intended to strengthen existing regulations up to a total or conditional ban on some or all parts of the livestock export trade.

Green Party spokesman on animal welfare, Gareth Hughes, said the incident showed that New Zealand must stop exporting livestock for breeding.

He told the RNZ checkpoint late Thursday that the animals suffered distress for weeks at sea and that many farmers did not feel it was economical.

“It’s something I don’t think we should be doing,” he said.

Hughes said he had urged O’Connor to act quickly.

“I am disappointed that the review took so long to get to this point, but I have made it clear that the Green Party’s preference is a total ban on live meat exports.”

Animal activist group SAFE is calling on O’Connor to take responsibility for the incident.

The organization’s campaign manager, Marianne Macdonald, said O’Connor needed to stand up and take responsibility.

“The minister has failed and this is unnecessary suffering that he has allowed to happen,” he said.

Macdonald said O’Connor needed to post the review live ahead of the election.

“It needs to act to ban live exports quickly to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.”

National

The National Party remains silent on the need for a total ban on livestock exports.

Agriculture spokesman David Bennett said now was not the time to blame anyone, but that there should be an investigation into what happened to the Livestock Gulf 1.

He said there were issues that needed to be addressed around live broadcasts before the party took a stand.

Bennett said the National Party would form its opinion on MPI’s advice for the review.

He said MPI needed to prioritize a new investigation on Livestock Gulf 1 over the current report on live shipments.

New Zealand first

New Zealand First said it supported live postings and did not want a total ban.

Agriculture spokesman Mark Paterson said the party supported the ongoing review.

Paterson agreed that there should be an investigation into the sinking of Livestock Gulf 1, but said the live shipments had big economic benefits.

“It’s a $ 300 million a year industry and that’s vital, especially when we need every dollar we can get,” he said.

Act

The Law Party also did not support a total ban on livestock exports, saying it would be a big mistake.

The party’s rural spokesman and Northland dairy farmer Mark Cameron said there were questions the shipping company needed to answer about what had gone wrong in international waters.

He said that the economic and commercial benefits of exporting live meat were too great to lose in the current climate.

“Lining up and building on emotion to create a reality that has the potential to destroy tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars would be a mistake,” he said.

Cameron said New Zealand farmers risk being blamed unnecessarily for the Livestock Gulf 1 incident.