New app data highlights urgency to protect dolphins on brink of extinction

Wednesday, 22 August 2018

More concerns have been raised by Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) over protection of Hector's and Māui dolphins, following the release of new data from around the top of the South Island.

WDC consultant Gemma McGrath said there were fewer than 60 of the critically endangered Māui dolphins left, while the Hector's population was down to just 20 per cent of its former size. She said WDC was disappointed in the Government's failure to meet its election promises of protecting them.

Set-netting and trawls in coastal regions were killing the dolphins at a rate that could see them wiped out forever, she said. In March this year, a Hector's dolphin was found dead at Rabbit Island, Nelson. The dolphin's body showed marks made by fishing net with the official cause of death suffocation in a set net.

McGrath said woefully inadequate protected areas for the dolphins were designated in 2008 but did not include the highly important Cook Strait and Taranaki Bight areas due to a lack of data.

* Fisherman caught setting nets where Hector's dolphins play**

The Hector's Dolphin Sightings App, launched less than two years ago in partnership with WDC and the Department of Conservation (DOC), has shown a five-fold increase in sightings of Hector's dolphins around the top of the South Island. This was evidence that the area was an important habitat for Hector's dolphins and should be protected from set nets and trawling, McGrath said.

'Hector's dolphins at the top of the South link the West and East coasts of the South Island,' she said.

'These dolphins have the potential to enhance genetic diversity of Māui dolphins, and may also be crucial for their future.'

WDC research fellow emeritus Mike Bossley said the Government needed to take decisive action now, or find themselves responsible for a mammal extinction.

'New Zealand has an important international reputation on conservation issues, but is utterly failing these little dolphins, who are found nowhere else on Earth,' he said.

People are encouraged to download the app and record sightings of Hector's, Māui dolphins, and other species, and upload images to help species identification.

WDC is running an international public petition urging the Government to keep its election promises to protect the dolphins and calling for protection of Hector's and Māui dolphin habitat.