What: Local Dolphin Defenders protest outside Nelson Port

When: 24/01/25 @ 08.00am - 10.00am

Where: Nelson Port entrance, Vickerman Street/Rocks Road, Nelson

Why: Grassroots charity Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders is calling for better Hector's dolphin protection with a protest tomorrow (24/01/25) outside Nelson Port.

At least 17 Hector’s dolphins have been reported killed by the fishing industry since Prime Minister Christopher Luxon took office in October 2023.

The charity Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders, is calling on Luxon's National-led coalition government for more protection for the dolphins throughout their range.

The small Hector’s dolphin subpopulation found in Nelson and Tasman Bay is thought to number only about 250 individuals. They are important in their own right and also a potential source of Hector’s dolphins seen in Wellington and among Māui dolphins further north.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders founder and Chair, Christine Rose, says: “The Prime Minister must now act on Hector's dolphin deaths. Trawlers and set nets must be excluded from the dolphin habitat; that’s out 20 nautical miles and 100m deep, if the species is to survive. The evidence is clear. Government regulation of the fishing industry is critical for these dolphins. The threat to their extinction is real.”

"No dolphin should be killed in a fishing net. These dolphins are only found here, nowhere else in the world. It's this Government's job to save them".

Background: Right now, trawling is allowed within two nautical miles of the coast, directly within the Tasman / Nelson Hector’s dolphin habitat. The increased transparency of fisheries bycatch from the roll out of cameras on boats, has proven that trawling is the number one cause of Hector’s dolphin deaths. Not all fishing boats have cameras, and not all footage is reviewed so the real death count is likely to be much more.

Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders NZ is the only charity in New Zealand dedicated to the dolphins’ protection and recovery. This Nelson Port protest action is part of a nationwide advocacy tour which sees the charity taking action in Hector’s hotspots to raise awareness and build a nation of dolphin defenders. There will also be a demonstration to further raise awareness, outside Nelson Market, on Saturday 25/01/25.

At 10am on Saturday February 1, Dolphin Defenders will also install twenty life-size dead Hector's dolphins on New Brighton beach in Christchurch.

In December, Māui and Hector’s Dolphin Defenders also launched a ‘David and Goliath’ court case against the United States’ Government in the US Court of International Trade. The case seeks a ban on the importation of fish from the trawl and set net fisheries in Māui dolphin habitat, because New Zealand’s fisheries rules fail to comply with the US bycatch rules and its Marine Mammal Protection Act.

With successive governments and now the Department of Conservation failing Māui and Hector’s Dolphins for decades, the charity has been left with no other option but to tackle the US Govt to ensure they do the right thing for these dolphins before New Zealand - and the world, loses them forever.

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