Hector's dolphin in Net

Hector's dolphins and their close relative the Maui's dolphin live only in New Zealand and are both the smallest and rarest marine dolphins on earth. Entanglement in gill and trawl nets has devastated Hector's and Maui's dolphins to near extinction and is killing them faster than they can breed.

Since the introduction of nylon filament nets in the 1970s, Hector's dolphin numbers have dropped from 29,000 to less than 8,000. The situation for Maui's dolphins, a subspecies of Hector's dolphins, is even worse. More than 90% are already lost. With fewer than 100 survivors and less than 25 breeding females, Maui's dolphins are facing imminent extinction.

Hector's and Maui's dolphins breed very slowly. Even under ideal circumstances a population of 100 individuals can only grow by two animals a year at the most.

Saving this species is a race against time that can only be won if fishing-related mortality is prevented. For more than a decade, marine biologists and conservationists have called for a New Zealand-wide ban on gillnets, and for the careful management of other threats, such as pollution, marine mining, tidal power stations in prime dolphin habitat, aquaculture and others.
Hector's dolphins continue to decline because protection measures are inadequate. Unless things change, the species will become extinct. In the absence of fisheries bycatch, Hector's dolphins could recover to at least half of their original population size within decades.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• marine
• ocean
• dolphin
• whale
• cetacean
• new zealand
• conservation
• water sports

[Kujirakira]

New Zealanders sure do love cetaceans.

IUCN Red List, the scientific source for all things endangered (seems to be a lot of those in Australia and NZ), says the problem is amateur gillneters.

In other words, New Zealand recreational activities are going to make this species of cetacean extinct.

You should excuse yourselves from the International Whaling Commission.

[Okhana01]

No!!!!!! It was already bloody dead wasn't it! God NZ is full of it, clean and green my arse!!! We're going to kill Maui's dolphin, it breaks my heart! How do i get involved in the protection of these animals? Why wont the government do anything about it? God we've been here not much longer than 200yrs and we've destroyed everything, our rivers lakes and beaches, our bird life! Its too late! I dont understand why this isn't considered a natural crisis! Get rid of the nets!