We have been pushing for proper protection for these dolphins for decades (see timeline below for an at-a-glance view of our efforts since the late 1990s) and have faced government inaction for most of that time. Now, finally, with your help we have progress and while this is cause to celebrate, it doesn’t go far enough.

WDC played a significant role in pushing for the TMP to be as strong as possible. WDC’s Philippa Brakes based in NZ and Mike Bossley based in Australia made a number of representations to government officials and politicians over these past years. WDC supporters also played a critical, part by contributing to a petition with over 40,000 signatures asking the government to do the right thing by these tiny dolphins and by taking part in the government’s public consultation on its plans to protect them. Children played a big part by sending thousands of lovely coloured drawings of the dolphins to the minister for conservation.

So, what was the final result of all this effort from you and WDC?

The TMP does represent a substantial improvement in protecting both Māui and Hectors dolphins. In particular, we are very happy to see the extension of protection for Māui dolphins on the West Coast of the North Island; the ban on set nets at the top of the South Island; and the expansion of protections on the East Coast of the South Island. The government has also promised to compensate fishers for loss of income or other hardship associated with the new measures, something we think is a legitimate concession.

WDC congratulates the government for all the improvements we have listed above.

However, and it is a big however...

We have serious concerns that the improvements arising from the new TMP do not go nearly far enough. For many years WDC has been calling for the banning of trawling and set netting around all current and historic Māui and Hector’s habitat out, seaward, to the 100m depth contour. The new TMP, whilst expanding protected areas up and down the coast does not expand out to sea and so does not go even close to meeting that requirement .

One of the major aspects of our campaign in NZ was to make it safer for Hector’s dolphins to cross Cook Strait between the South and North Islands. If the Māui dolphins are to survive it is probably necessary for them to breed with, and their numbers to be bolstered by, the very similar Hector’s dolphins from the South Island. Banning set netting in the waters at the top of the South Island is a good start but trawling is still permitted and there is no protection in Cook Strait.

We are also concerned about some of the vague promises relating to the TMP. In order to know whether fishing vessels are complying with the new regulations it is imperative that their activities are monitored. The government has promised to install cameras on all vessels to enable detection of any dolphins caught as bycatch but has not issued a timetable for their installation, nor provided details on how compliance will be ensured. The government promised that cameras would be installed several years ago, and this has still not come to pass.

Overall, if you got involved with this campaign and took part in our actions, you should feel proud to know you have helped achieve important improvements to the protection of New Zealand’s unique dolphins – these dolphins are better off because of our efforts - but we have to realise that there is still a long way to go to achieve all the protection they need and deserve.