A protester dressed as the Grim Reaper confronted Fisheries Minister Shane Jones outside an environment conference in Auckland on 25 June 2026, protesting the government's protections for Māui dolphins, according to RNZ.

Jones, who oversees the Oceans and Fisheries portfolio, was attending the conference when the costumed protester approached him. The stunt targeted his responsibility for commercial fishing rules that conservation advocates say are incompatible with recovering the Māui dolphin population.

The Māui dolphin — Cephalorhynchus hectori maui — is a subspecies of Hector's dolphin and one of the world's rarest marine mammals. It lives only on the west coast of the North Island, with fewer than 60 individuals above one year old remaining. The question of adequate protection under the Fisheries Act and the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement remains contested between conservation groups, iwi, the fishing industry and government.

The key dispute centres on set-net and trawl restrictions in the Māui dolphin's habitat. Environmental groups argue the protected area is too small and exemptions within it too generous, pushing the subspecies toward functional extinction. Staging the protest at an environment conference — rather than Parliament or a fishing industry venue — was a deliberate choice to raise the issue's profile in a setting where Jones couldn't avoid it.

Jones has defended the commercial fishing sector consistently since taking the portfolio. He has resisted calls for tighter restrictions, arguing they would unfairly burden fishing communities, particularly in regional areas. This position puts him at odds with conservation NGOs and some iwi whose role includes protecting taonga species under Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles.

Direct action and visual protest are established tactics in New Zealand marine conservation campaigns — designed for media attention rather than to persuade the minister directly. Whether such gestures shift policy is another matter. What the protest does do is keep the Māui dolphin's status in the public conversation at a moment when the government has shown no sign of revising fishing restrictions.

The real pressure point worth watching is whether the Minister of Conservation or Cabinet colleagues use their portfolios to push Jones on fisheries settings. So far, that hasn't happened. Jones has operated with considerable autonomy on fishing rules, and nothing in the current coalition's structure suggests that will change.