For some reason they occasionally get caught on a trawl net.

Large groups of fish found the escape route in the trawl net faster than small groups, suggesting they learnt from each other, he said.

Ms Barry said there had been no verified deaths of Maui's dolphins in set nets or trawl nets since 2002.

The WWF commissioned a survey of five hundred people and found 83 percent support a ban on set and trawl nets.

The plan does not set a target, called for by conservation groups, to reduce the number of sea lions killed in trawling nets.

"You won't want to talk about the two bodies we fished out of the trawl nets, then."