WDC in talks with New Zealand‘s Minister for Conservation over dolphin protection
WDC team meets NZ Minister for Conservation Representatives from Whale and Dolphin Conservation have met with New Zealand’s Minister for Conservation, Eugenie Sage to discuss much-needed protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. The meeting was secured as part of WDC’s campaign to save these dolphins (collectively known as New Zealand dolphins) and took place as the…
Read MoreNZ government options for dolphins will be a CATastrophe
The New Zealand government is attempting to use a parasite spread by cats as an excuse to deflect from its failure to protect two of the most threatened native dolphin species in the country. Māui and Hector’s dolphins have declined dramatically due to net fishing over the last 50 years. There are fewer than 60…
Read MoreRare right whale song recorded for first time
Researchers in Alaska have documented the song of the North Pacific right whale. Most people know that humpback whales sing to each other, but now it turns out right whales have their own special songs as well. For the first time, marine biologists have recorded singing by the North Pacific right whale – one of…
Read MoreUk trade talks with New Zealand should raise concerns about endangered dolphins
WDC is leading a coalition of organisations urging the UK government to use its trade negotiations with New Zealand to discuss the appalling numbers of Māui and Hector’s dolphins dying in fishing nets (as ‘bycatch’). In a letter to the UK government, WDC urges that this matter is discussed as a matter of urgency during…
Read MoreRecord numbers of dolphins dead on French beaches
According to reports from France, huge numbers of dolphins have been washing up dead on French beaches once again. Since the start of 2019, up to 600 dead dolphins have drifted onto beaches along France’s Atlantic coast due, it seems, to incidental capture in in fishing trawls and static fishing nets offshore (also known as bycatch).…
Read MoreCanada announces 2019 plans to protect North Atlantic right whales
February 7, 2019: Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced their 2019 management measures to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters. In 2017, 17 right whales were found dead, 12 of them in a span of just three months in Atlantic Canada. Investigations into those deaths revealed the leading causes…
Read MoreAre France and Spain looking to weaken protection for whales and dolphins?
As EU governments continue to negotiate the terms of the Technical Measures under the European Common Fisheries Policy, it is emerging that French and Spanish Ministers seem set to choose fishing interests over the legal protection of dolphins, and other protected marine life, from entanglement in fishing gear in European waters. Entanglement in fishing nets and gear…
Read MoreCalifornia passes legislation to end use of harmful driftnets in fishery
A bill to phase out the use of drift gillnets (driftnets) off the California coast passed the California state legislature and was signed into law on September 27! The new law implements a buyback program for driftnet permits and helps the fishery transition to more sustainable methods, including deep-set buoy gear, a system specifically designed…
Read MoreUkrainian ship's crew held after 46 porpoises die in nets
Illegally nets from a Ukrainian fishing boat have killed nearly 50 porpoises off the Crimean coast. The porpoises died after becoming entangled in almost six miles of nets and investigators believe that were deliberately targeted for illegal export. The crew of the trawler named YaMK-0041 was detained and the captain faces up to five years in jail…
Read MoreNew Zealand government to undertake net review after dolphin deaths
The government in New Zealand is reviewing the use of commercial set nets (a type of gillnet that is attached to the seabed) after the deaths of five Hector’s dolphins in one net in February. The incident took place off the Banks Peninsula off the east coast of the South Island. A complete ban on…
Read More