Content warning: An image of a dead dolphin in this story may be upsetting to some readers.
The latest shots have been fired in attempts to get the United States to ban imports of New Zealand seafood.
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Conservationist group Sea Shepherd has asked the US Court of International Trade to bring in a ban in response to what they characterised as a lack of action by the New Zealand government to protect critically endangered Māui dolphins.
There are just an estimated 62 left, making them one of the rarest dolphins in the world.
Under US law, an import ban could kick in if a country was not applying similar protections to those in place in its own waters.
Sea Shepherd put its case to the New York based court on Friday.
It said this country was not doing enough to arrest the dolphins' decline and had failed to implement a recommendation from the International Whaling Commission for all trawl and set nets to be banned out to a depth of 100 metres, in all areas known to be frequented by them.
In February a decaying female Māui dolphin was found washed up at Muriwai beach, pushing them one step closer towards extinction.
Dolphin expert professor emeritus Liz Slooten said documents presented by the New Zealand government on Friday that said it was "unlikely that the cause of death was due to commercial fishing operations" was a stretch, due in most part to the fact it was so badly decomposed.
A decaying female Māui dolphin was found washed up at Muriwai beach. Photo: Supplied
"What we've got here is an absence of evidence, not an evidence of absence, not an indication that this dolphin did not die from bycatch. You don't know how it died because it was so far gone."
The New Zealand government had paid a top Washington firm, Trade Pacific Law, to represent it at the hearing.
Professor Slooten said that was a reflection of just how high the stakes were if the preliminary ban being sought by Sea Shepherd became a reality.
"Some estimates have been made as to how much fish that might apply to that's caught in Maui dolphin habitat, and that's about $20 million. But if it was a ban on all New Zealand fish exports to the US it will be $200 million."
The judge hearing the case is the same one who banned all seafood imports from Mexico after finding that government had failed to do enough to protect the even more endangered Vaquita dolphin, which now numbered just 10.
But the New Zealand government's lawyer, Warren Connelly, said the two cases were not comparable.
"In the Vaquita case, it was unchallenged ... that Mexico's measures exceeded US standards. That is not the case here. There's no question that the measures that the government of New Zealand has implemented, reduce estimated bycatch below the PBR (Potential Biological Removal Level)."
Among those measures were the use of cameras on 20 vessels fishing in the Māui dolphins' habitat, something National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lawyer Stephen Tosini contended would make a meaningful difference.
"Definitely camera coverage would help keep fishers honest. And definitely would encourage reporting of any sort of incidents and also would discourage fishers from neglecting to protect protect Māui dolphins that might become entangled."
Judge Gary Katzmann is expected to make a decision on a possible ban in the next few weeks.
