Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand dolphin’
Significant victory for WDC in fight to save world’s smallest dolphins
A significant victory in the fight to save dolphins in New Zealand from extinction has been achieved after stricter fishing and environmental protections for the critically endangered Māui and endangered Hector’s dolphins have been sanctioned by the government. The move comes after a long campaign by WDC and gives the Māui and Hector’s a fighting chance…
Read MoreCoronavirus and New Zealand dolphins: many questions, few answers
Like people over the world, New Zealanders have recently been faced with a lot of time at home. Fortunately, humans are remarkably resourceful and we have come up with a variety of ways to amuse, distract and entertain ourselves during these difficult times. As well as being strange and difficult, these are also very sad…
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 MoreExtinction emergency – we need action right now to save New Zealand dolphins
Every year on 8 June we celebrate World Oceans Day – a day when we’re encouraged to think about the oceans and the impact that we humans are having on the marine environment and the creatures who live there. I don’t think the health of the oceans has ever been higher in the public consciousness.…
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 MoreWhaling commission voices grave concern over Maui’s dolphin future
Scientists from the International Whaling Commission have voiced their “grave concern” for the endangered Maui’s dolphin, a sub-species of the New Zealand dolphin. Estimates for the number of remaing dolphins range from 43 to 69 with one researcher, Dr. Liz Slooten, predicting there could be just a few individuals left within a couple of decades.…
Read MoreNew Zealanders Want to Pay More Tax
A report published this week shows a large majority of New Zealanders are prepared to pay a ‘Dolphin Tax’ to stop New Zealand dolphins dying in fishing nets. The report was commissioned by Whale and Dolphin Conservation. It was presented in summary form to the Biennial meeting of the Marine Mammal Society which was held…
Read MoreHow not to save a species!
Less than a week after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) urged the Government of New Zealand to do more to save the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin there has been a dramatic turn of events. Instead of establishing more protective measures to save this endemic species, the NZ Government have in fact opened up a potential…
Read MoreNew Zealand Dolphin – How to lose the race to extinction, Part 1
Extinction is a sensitive word in New Zealand. Around the world, people have an image of New Zealand as a wild, natural landscape with protected oceans, a nuclear free zone in the glorious “land of the hobbit.” In fact, as relatively unspoilt as the country is and as much as I like New Zealand, it…
Read MoreWDC raises plight of New Zealand dolphin at scientific meeting
WDC has a small but hardworking team at the Biennial meeting of the Marine Mammal Society taking place this week at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, NZ. At the meeting are Erich Hoyt from the UK, Philippa Brakes from NZ and Mike Bossley based in Australia, all of whom have been involved in presenting…
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