Dolphin Capture Shows Greater Range, More Risk

/

Media Release

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Dolphin Capture Shows Greater Range, More Risk to Maui & Hector’s

Dolphin advocates say the capture of an endangered Maui or Hector’s dolphin in a recreational set net this year shows more protection is needed. Maui and Hector’s dolphins are the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphins, found only in New Zealand’s inshore waters.

Parts of their habitat only, are protected from mortal human impacts, which risks the extinction of the Maui subspecies, usually found off the North Island’s West Coast; and localised extinction of the other geographically and genetically isolated subspecies of Hector’s around New Zealand.

Most of the dolphins’ range remains open to trawling and seismic testing, despite the Government’s scientists agreeing that Maui dolphins in particular, can’t sustain a single human induced death in the next 10-23 years.

Chairwoman of the environmental group ‘Maui’s & Hector’s Dolphins Education/Action’, Christine Rose, says ‘no one knows whether the dolphin caught in the set net earlier this year near Raukokore in the Bay of Plenty was a Maui or Hector’s dolphin. But it has been verified as a Cephalorhynchus Hectorii. We’ve also received unverified reports of these dolphins caught in nets elsewhere in the Bay of Plenty. What we do know is that these dolphins don’t have the protection needed throughout their entire range, out to 100 metres deep around the coast for them to survive”.

“There is no protection at all for Maui & Hector’s dolphins on the North Island’s East Coast. But it’s obvious these dolphins travel much further than their current protection, and that they’re at real risk even within the supposed sanctuaries, where trawling and seismic testing with known mortality risks, are allowed”. “The confirmed capture (and fortunate subsequent release) of a C. Hectorii in the Bay of Plenty, confirms that range, and confirms the risk”

“The International Whaling Commission continues to call on the New Zealand government to protect these loveliest of dolphins throughout their full range, to at least 100 metres deep, and international lobbyists are calling for a boycott of New Zealand fish. This all shows the widespread concern about our New Zealand dolphins and the impact of current practices on this critically threatened species”.

“The Government needs to do the right thing, and protect the dolphins throughout their habitat. The recent capture of the dolphin in the Bay of Plenty confirms both a greater range and therefore greater risk to the dolphins so more action is needed.”

ENDS

NOTES:

The Department of Conservation have recently renamed Maui’s dolphins ‘Maui dolphins’.

Maui’s dolphins are a small, slow breeding endemic dolphin found only on the West Coast of the North Island. Recent studies show a population as low as around 55 adults and only 20 breeding females, from about 1800 in the 1970s. As a small inshore dolphin they are vulnerable to a range of human threats, with 95% of deaths from set or gill nets. Seismic testing, pollution and boat strike are other risks.

Scientific consensus is that Maui Dolphins can’t sustain a single human caused mortality in the next 10-23 years if the species is to survive. Government scientists also state that up to 8 Maui dolphins may be killed in trawl nets in any given year.

The International Whaling Committee and the International Society of Marine Mammology as well as renowned scientist Jane Goodall are all calling on the Government to protect Maui’s dolphins within their entire habitat – out to 100m deep.

© Scoop Media