WELLINGTON, June 19, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A New Zealand minister has defended fishers involved in the deaths of two orcas in commercial fishing incidents and said "these things happen", while conservationists condemned the "devastating" loss.

Fishing minister Shane Jones described the deaths of the critically endangered mammals in separate incidents as an "unpleasant outcome", adding he "thought orcas were quite intelligent".

"It's not a happy outcome for the whale, but these things happen," Jones said.

"If you look at it from the perspective of the sea captain he's on a vessel about 30 or 40 feet, and a killer whale is about five or six tonnes," Jones said, describing it as a "kodak moment".

"So he would have got a hell of a shock seeing a whale come up in a net."

The Kaikoura Wildlife Centre Trust, which operates on the east coast of the South Island where one of the orcas was killed, said it was a "devastating loss" to the critically endangered species.

"This status is reserved for native species facing an extremely high risk of extinction, with only an estimated 150 to 200 individuals remaining in the coastal orca population," the Trust said.

Orcas in New Zealand are tracked by conservationists who keep tabs on the family pods that circle the country.

"Pods are highly structured matriarchal family units that stay together for generations," the Trust said.

"With so few individuals remaining, coastal orca face serious threats from human related impacts such as bycatch, boat strikes, entanglements, vessel noise pollution and human disturbance."