Wellington, Dec 17 NZPA - The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the sea lion by-catch limit in the Auckland Islands' squid fishery remains too high, despite being dropped to 76.

Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley yesterday announced the new limit, which was down from trawlers' voluntary limit last year of 95.

But a WWF spokesman said the sea lion population had declined by about half since 1998, with the squid fishery being the main cause.

"It is hard to see how the Government has decided that this limit is a cautious approach given the species is one of the rarest sea lion species in the world, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has recently reclassified it as vulnerable due to population decline," he said.

"The Government's judgment is too narrow, as the minister seems to have focused solely on the number of sea lions which are directly killed by the squid fishery, and has not looked at the other impacts of the fishery on the species, such as the depletion of their food."

The Government should adopt a "genuinely" precautionary approach of setting the catch limit much lower to ensure the recovery of the species, the spokesman said.