Another rare Māui dolphin dies as court challenge looms
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
A juvenile Māui dolphin, one of around 50 left in the wild, was found dead at Port Waikato late last month.
The loss of one of the world’s rarest creatures comes as the date is set for a high-stakes court battle over protections for the critically endangered species.
The young male washed up at Port Waikato on February 26. While the necropsy found the body was too decomposed to determine a definitive cause of death, the pathology report noted markings that have alarmed advocates.
“The remaining skin on the right side of the body had a series of intersecting linear lacerations of varying length, forming a ‘criss-cross’ pattern,” the report states. “None of the lacerations extended deeper than the skin.”
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Christine Rose, of Māui & Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ, said the pattern was consistent with injuries often seen in dolphins caught in nets.
The death fell within the August 1 2025 to July 31 2026 reporting year, which has already recorded several incidents involving Māui and Hector's dolphin.
The Department of Conservation confirmed two fishing bycatch deaths.
A pregnant adult female Hector’s dolphin was caught in a trawl at Pegasus Bay in September.
An adult female was caught in a set net at Kaikōura, also in February.
It’s a gruesome death. When a dolphin swims into a fishing net, it becomes entangled. Its lungs are small, roughly the same size as a human’s, and within minutes it begins to suffocate. Desperate to avoid drowning, it thrashes and struggles, breaking teeth or fins. The nets cut into its flesh.
One death was a result of natural causes, a newborn male that became separated from its mother at South Brighton in Christchurch.
Three deaths remain unknown or indeterminable. An adult male succumbed to unknown trauma at Ashworths Beach. Another juvenile male was too decomposed to determine cause at Ōkārito Lagoon.
There are only around 50 Māui, confined to a stretch of water between Maunganui Bluff and the Whanganui River mouth, and 10,000-15,000 Hector’s dolphins left in South Island waters.
Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) director Matt Hall said the Māui death was a “confronting setback” for the population and a reminder of how important the effective implementation of conservation tools available to the Government were.
“The Minister for Oceans and Fisheries [Shane Jones] and the Minister for Conservation [Tama Potaka] must take all action necessary to allow the population to stabilise and recover, so that the unique and wonderful curved fin of a Māui or Hector’s dolphin gliding through the water can be seen by future generations.”
The loss comes ahead of a High Court challenge to the Government’s Hector’s and Māui Dolphin Threat Management Plan, scheduled to be heard in Wellington High Court from October 27–29.
ELI argues the Government protects commercial fishing interests ahead of the species and is seeking a judicial review of decisions made around a 2020 plan to counter threats to Hector’s and Māui dolphin.