Last Chance for Maui's Dolphins THUNDERCLAP#NZOverFishing #SaveNZDolphins
16 July 2016: The thunderclap for Maui's dolphins went out to 1,005,361 people across social media in an instant! A huge thank you to everyone who has supported. NABU International and Hectors and Maui's Dolphin SOS are leading the charge to prevent extinction of the smallest and rarest dolphin in the world. Unless the level of New Zealand fisheries protection is increased significantly, Maui’s dolphins could become extinct in 15 years. New Zealand has shirked its responsibility to protect the last Maui’s dolphins. 2016 is the fifth year running that the government has been urged to ban the use of gill nets and trawling across Maui’s entire habitat by the International Whaling Commission. To date, New Zealand has ignored the scientists and is selling out this rare species for shortsighted economic reasons. Consumer power offers the dolphins real hope. McDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish contains fish from New Zealand and so supports an industry that fights for the right to continue killing the dolphins. The fast-food giant has the power to help prevent the first extinction of the marine dolphin in the world due to human activity. Tweet-Storm Success
Thank you to supporters of our mega 24-hour Last Chance for Maui's Dolphins Tweetstorm - You know who you are. Twitter was immediately flooded with messages for these treasured dolphins and what was to be a 24-hour tweet-storm extended well beyond 48 hours. #SaveNZDolphins reached 72,265 Twitter users within the first five hours alone. The tweet-storm also trended past the 48 hour mark within New Zealand, with thanks to people all around the world ensuring important messages would be heard. This exceptional result was thanks to wonderful people worldwide demonstrating the importance of Maui dolphins receiving full and immediate protection, as called for multiple times by the International Whaling Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature and many other concerned conservation organizations. Their situation is critical and Zealand must protect them. It is important to keep hitting the mark with our messages.
Continue tweeting for their lives! Read more - July 8 2016 The Maui TimesTweetstorm for Maui's Dolphins!8 August 2015
The extinction of the smallest and rarest dolphin on earth is happening before our very eyes. On the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, fishing with gillnets and trawling has decimated Maui’s dolphin numbers from an estimated 1,800 in the 1970's fewer than 55 individuals. There are now less than 15 breeding females left on earth. Scientists agree that full protection against harmful fishing methods across the dolphins’ entire habitat is required to give them a chance to bounce back. Numbers continue to decline, but New Zealand is ignoring the dolphins’ plight in favour of commercial fishing interests. Unless things change, Maui’s dolphins will become extinct in less than 20 years. Their loss would be the first extinction of a marine cetacean due to man. Our tweetstorm is designed to mobilize thousands of people from around the globe to communicate a strong conservation message to the New Zealand Government and the country’s fishing industry and raise public awareness. In collaboration with social media experts who generously volunteered their time, we will use the social network Twitter to allow dolphin friends from all over the world to simultaneously send messages to the New Zealand Government, the country’s fishing industry and the media. These messages will send the signal that the international community won’t accept the willful annihilation of these beautiful animals, which unlike the fishermen have nowhere else to go. As consumers, participants will also emphasize that they will no longer buy seafood from New Zealand until the dolphins are protected.
Take part in our Tweetstorm on August 8th to save the last 50 Maui’s dolphins from extinction 
Several big names associated with marine conservation already support our Tweetstorm. They include the queen of the oceans, Dr. Sylvia Earl Founder of the Mission Blue Alliance and National Geographic Explorer in Residence, our Maui’s dolphin ambassador and World champion freediver William Trubridge, the President and Founder of the Ocean Futures Society Jean-Michel Cousteau, as well as the Team from the award winning film ‘The Cove’. 
Oceanographer Sylvia Earlie, freedive world champion William Trubridge and Ocean Futures Society President & Founder Jean-Michel Cousteau will be tweeting on 8th August to keep Maui's dolphins alive. Join them now!
Marine mammal scientists condemn seismic testing in Maui's dolphin habitat
18 April 2013 - In a letter to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) has yesterday urged the government to halt seismic testing in Maui’s dolphin habitat immediately.
With a membership of some 2,000 scientists from 60 countries, the SMM is the world's largest professional body dedicated to research on marine mammals and the ecosystems that support them. The SMM’s letter is concerned with seismic surveys off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, which is the final refuge of the little known Maui’s dolphin, the smallest and rarest dolphin on earth. The SMM states that allowing seismic testing in the dolphins’ habitat may harm their hearing and push them into unprotected areas, where they are more exposed to fishing nets. Fishing is the primary cause of death among the last 55 surviving Maui’s dolphins. Gillnets and trawling kill about nine percent of the population a year – that’s 75 times more than the sustainable limit. 
New Zealanders from Kiwis against Seabed Minig (KASM) protest against seismic testing in Maui's dolphin habitat.
The SMM's highlighted the fact that a proposed seismic project off California in the US was rejected because of its anticipated harm to porpoises. “It should be noted that the potential seriousness of the impact of the seismic activity was considered excessive for a stock of over 2,000 individuals that has no current conservation concerns,” writes SMM President Prof. Helene Marsh. “Allowing this seismic testing thus appears inconsistent with the New Zealand Government's stated goal of enabling this subspecies to recover.” Seismic testing involves shooting noisy blasts of compressed air towards the ocean floor every 15-20 seconds, around the clock, for weeks or months on end. These airgun signals have to be intensely loud to penetrate deep into the ocean floor to reveal buried pockets of oil and gas. These airgun blasts are known to affect whales, dolphins, and porpoises and can also disturb and harm the fish they feed on. It's like having a canon go off outside your home several times a minute, day or night. 
The SMM also reiterated its earlier conservation message to the New Zealand government. In February the Society advocated an immediate ban of gillnet and trawl fisheries across all Maui’s dolphin habitat to prevent their extinction, “I encourage you to act quickly and decisively to provide the leadership in marine conservation that the world expects of your country,” wrote Prof. Marsh.
We are delighted that the SMM is speaking up about the urgent need to safeguard this species now. The scientific evidence is overwhelming. But instead of protecting the dolphins’ against fishing nets, the government is actively encouraging a host of environmentally damaging activities across their home We are strongly opposed to seismic testing in Maui’s dolphin habitat and support the use of renewable energy. Oil and gas exploration leads to oil and gas exploitation, which involves further dangers to the marine environment through offshore drilling, spills, leaks, and increased fossil fuel emissions. > Watch the video below to find out more about how seismic testing works Six Hector’s dolphins die in one month because of inadequate protection
The world’s smallest dolphin bound for extinction because New Zealand fails to act 27 February 2013 - New information made public by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation reveals that a record six Hector’s dolphins were found dead last December. Five individuals, including two neonates and a young calf died along the east coast of the country’s South Island. The sustainable limit for this area is around one dolphin per year. The sixth individual was found floating in the ater off the country's west coast. In 1988 New Zealand’s established its first Marine Mammals Sanctuary to protect the Hector’s dolphins along its easten shores against harmful fishing practices, the primary cause of their decline. But the Sanctuary is failing in its task because it is simply too small.
“The first problem is that the current boundary of the Marine Mammal Sanctuary does not coincide with the biological limits of the dolphins' distribution range”, says Dr Barbara Maas, Head of Endangered Species Conservation of NABU International. “Furthermore, set netting and trawling continue even throughout most of the Sanctuary itself. Because only a small proportion of the dolphins' range is protected, numbers continue to drop. Unless these issues are addressed immediately, we will continue to see distressing images like these until the dolphins have disappeared for good.”
Maui's dolphins extinct by 2030: world's marine mammal scientists urge immediate action
Under current protection levels, Maui’s dolphins will become practically extinct by 2030 as a result of fishing.
In a letter to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) urges the government to ban gillnets and trawling in Maui’s dolphin habitat immediately to avoid their extinction. With a membership of some 2,000 scientists from 60 countries, the SMM is the world's largest professional body dedicated to research on marine mammals and the ecosystems that support them. The letter highlights that fishing nets alone kill about nine percent of an estimated population of 55 individuals over one year of age, which will render Maui’s dolphins virtually extinct in less than 20 years. Read more Maui's dolphin extinction scenario
Under current protection levels, Maui’s dolphins will become practically extinct by 2030 as a result of fishing. Green bars: Historic population status, orange bars: prognosis at an annual decline of 9% due to fishing.
The SMM expressed its concerns in a letter addressed to New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key, as well as the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, and the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith. “I encourage you to act quickly and decisively to provide the leadership in marine conservation that the world expects of your country,” writes SMM President Professor Helene Marsh. “Scientists from New Zealand and elsewhere have provided an exceptionally strong scientific basis for managing fisheries to prevent the extinction of Maui's dolphins. Any bycatch of Maui's dolphins is clearly unsustainable. You will appreciate the urgent need to act on that science and strengthen measures to protect these dolphins.”
The IUCN motion had called on New Zealand to prohibit the use of gill and trawl nets in coastal waters where Hector's and Maui's dolphins occur up to a depth of 100 metre. It was passed with 117 countries and 460 organisations voting in favour. New Zealand alone had opposed it.
The New Zealand government’s decision on whether to increase the protection for the last 55 Maui’s dolphins is now almost two months overdue, so this is a very timely letter. There is nothing left in terms of credible scientific endorsement for what we have been asking for for years. With every passing day of inaction, Maui’s dolphins are put at risk unnecessarily. The scientific evidence for an immediate zero tolerance approach to Maui’s dolphin mortality is overwhelming, and New Zealand has become embarrassingly isolated amidst growing international interest and concern. Fishing nets threaten Hector's dolphins inside a Marine Mammal Sanctuary
When is a marine sanctuary not a sanctuary? The Banks Peninsular Marine Mammal Sanctuary fails to adequately protect Hector's dolphins against fishing nets - their biggest threat. Only a small portion of the dolphins' range is protected and numbers continue to drop as a result. Currently, the population has a 8 - 20 percent chance of recovering to just half their original numbers within 50 years. Poor odds indeed. But this is only half of the story. Other fishing methods that are known to kill Hector’s dolphins, such as recreational gillnetting and trawling are not included in these calculations. The true death toll is therefore likely to considerably exceed these already alarming figures. The evidence speaks for itself. The dolphin sighting in the map above clearly show that Hector's dolphins range far beyond the boundary of the Marine Mammal Sanctuary . The red area, which follows the 100 meter depth contour, depicts the dolphins' distribution range. The bright green area indicates the area in which gillnetting is prohibited (four nautical miles offshore). The area in which trawling is restricted is even smaller and extends to just two nautical miles offshore. Research sighting of the dolphins (black dots) as well as sighting data collected by official government observers on commercial gillnet boats (grey dots) clearly show that Hector's dolphins are exposed to harmful fishing methods across most of their range. As a result, the population continues to decline. Despite being aware of this problem since at least 2009, the government has done nothing to address it. What's more, the fisheries observer programme, which allows the government to collect data about both dolphin distribution and the number of dolphins killed in nets has been dismantled. This means that this information is no longer collected. At the same time, the government and the fishing industry cite lack of information as one of the chief reasons not to protect the dolphins. In other words, the dolphins' demise is brushed under the carpet. Without full protection against trawling and gillnetting Hector's dolphins will continue to die and slide ever closer to extinction. The boundaries of the Marine Mammal Sanctuary must be extended to coincide with the biological limits of the dolphins' distribution range. In other words, it must be expanded to a water depth of 100 metres.
Historic alliance of leading environmental groups pledge new actions to protect whales and dophins Maui's & Hector's dolphins are one of three priority areas targeted for immediate action 
A new global community has been formed to protect whales and dolphins across the world’s oceans. The alliance was announced following the World Whale Conference held last week at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton, UK, the same hotel where the original moratorium on whaling was signed in 1982. Over 75 leading environmental and animal protection groups and businesses have committed to Save the Whales: Reloaded, including NABU International, Ocean Alliance, the American Cetacean Society and many more. The new global alliance will identify and work together to protect whales and dolphins in all of the places where they most need help. The news was announced by whale and dolphin specialists Planet Whale, which orchestrated the alliance with environmentalists including Bill Oddie and Jean Michel Cousteau, is already flagging up sites requiring urgent action. Dylan Walker, co-founder of Planet Whale commented: “Today marks an historic move forward as we galvanise the passion and commitment of the original Save the Whales campaign with Save the Whales: Reloaded. As an active and influential global community we will be using our collective energy and expertise to identify and ring fence new ‘Areas of Concern’ for whales and dolphins across the globe. Today, we are naming the first three areas we have agreed to tackle and we are already planning to announce thousands more as we seek to ensure the long term protection of all whales, dolphins and porpoises, collectively known as cetaceans.” Identifying key locations where whales and dolphins are currently under threat, the alliance has announced the first three issues targeted for immediate action. We are thrilled to report that Maui's and Hector's dolphins have been selected as one of them. The global community behind Save the Whales: Reloaded was formed at last week’s World Whale Conference which brought together members of the public, whale and dolphin charities, government agencies and businesses from around the world to share ideas and best practice. A total of 44 charities and 34 whale watching businesses have committed to Save the Whales: Reloaded, representing 27 countries from every continent apart from Antartica. “As a community we are committed to our cause and our message today to all those involved in cruelty towards cetaceans and destruction of their natural habitats is clear: we will not stop until you stop,” said Dylan Walker of Planet Whale. Small dolphins in deep water
Twenty two conservation groups and businesses from around the world have joined NABU International in a collective bid to save the Maui and Hector’s dolphins as part of the Save the Whales: Reloaded campaign.
Maui and Hector’s dolphins are the smallest and rarest marine dolphins on earth and live only in New Zealand. Over the past four decades, gillnetting and trawling have decimated them almost to the point of extinction. A ban on gill and trawl nets across the species’ full range in all waters up to 100m deep is crucial if these dolphins are to recover. “Saving Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins is a race against time. They simply can’t hang on much longer and need action now,” says Dr Barbara Maas, Head of International Species Conservation at NABU International. Since 1970 Hector’s dolphin numbers have dropped by more than three quarters. Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of Hector’s dolphins off New Zealand‘s North Island, have been decimated to around 55 individuals and are facing imminent extinction. Maui’s dolphins can only cope with one death due to human activities every 10-23 years, but around five Maui’s dolphins die in fishing nets each year. That’s 75 times more than the sustainable limit. The world‘s largest conservation assembly, the IUCN World Conservation Congress recently passed a motion that urges New Zealand to extend protection of Maui‘s and Hector‘s dolphins against gillnetting and trawling to a depth of 100 meters offshore to include their entire range. The motion was adopted with 117 governmental and 459 NGO votes in favour. New Zealand alone voted against it. The New Zealand government is refusing to afford Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins the necessary protection. Current and newly proposed protection measures are not nearly enough to allow them to recover. Scientists are optimistic that Maui’s can recover if human induced mortality is eliminated”, says Maas. “In line with the IUCN World Conservation Congress’s recommendations, we stand together and call on the New Zealand government to protect Hector‘s and Maui‘s dolphins immediately and fully against harmful fishing methods before it’s too late. If New Zealand fails on this critical conservation challenge, it will damage the country’s reputation forever. The New Zealand government has opened a public consultation on the protection of the last 55 Maui's dolphins which runs until 22 November. This process gives everyone the opportunity to have their say by sending a submission. Save the Whales: Reloaded supporters will join NABU International in petitioning the New Zealand government to increase the ban on trawling and set nets along the coastline to extend to the species’ full range. Since 1970 Hector’s dolphin numbers have dropped by more than three quarters. Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of Hector’s dolphins off New Zealand‘s North Island, have been decimated to around 55 individuals and are facing imminent extinction. Maui’s dolphins can only cope with one death due to human activities every 10-23 years, but around five Maui’s dolphins die in fishing nets each year. That’s 75 times more than the sustainable limit.
The world‘s largest conservation assembly, the IUCN World Conservation Congress recently passed a motion that urges New Zealand to extend protection of Maui‘s and Hector‘s dolphins against gillnetting and trawling to a depth of 100 meters offshore to include their entire range. The motion was adopted with 117 governmental and 459 NGO votes in favour. New Zealand alone voted against it. The New Zealand government is refusing to afford Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins the necessary protection. Current and newly proposed protection measures are not nearly enough to allow them to recover. Scientists are optimistic that Maui’s can recover if human induced mortality is eliminated”, says Maas. “In line with the IUCN World Conservation Congress’s recommendations, we stand together and call on the New Zealand government to protect Hector‘s and Maui‘s dolphins immediately and fully against harmful fishing methods before it’s too late. If New Zealand fails on this critical conservation challenge, it will damage the country’s reputation forever. The New Zealand government has opened a public consultation on the protection of the last 55 Maui's dolphins which runs until 22 November. This process gives everyone the opportunity to have their say by sending a submission. Save the Whales: Reloaded supporters will join NABU International in petitioning the New Zealand government to increase the ban on trawling and set nets along the coastline to extend to the species’ full range. To sign up to the cause and join Save the Whales: Reloaded please visit http://www.causes.com/causes/798209-save-the-whales-reloaded or email [email protected] to register your organisation.
New Zealand fails internationl conservation obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity
 Indian school children help distribute thousands ofreports
Maui’s dolphins occur only in New Zealand and are both the smallest and rarest marine dolphins on earth. More than 94% are already lost. With just 55 survivors older than one year, less than 20 breeding females, and an annual death toll of around five individuals, Maui's dolphins are facing imminent extinction.
In October 2012, a Government appointed science panel confirmed that commercial and recreational set netting and trawling are responsible for almost 96% of human induced Maui's dolphin deaths. The estimated level of impact on the population is 76 times higher than the sustainable limit. While local and international experts agree that fishing is the number one threat that is driving the extinction of Maui's dolphins, the New Zealand government alone maintains that "There is not enough evidence to pinpoint the exact reasons for the decline in the population." New Zealand is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is currently meeting in Hyderabad, India. NABU International’s latest report highlights the incompatibility between New Zealand’s chronic lack of effective, science-based conservation measures for Maui’s dolphins and its obligations under the Convention's strategic objectives for 2011 to 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets). Most of the 10,000 delegates at the CBD will have received a copy of our report. This includes the requirement to ensure that "the extinction of known threatened species has been prevented and their conservation status, particular of those most in decline, has been improved and sustained", and that the impacts of use of natural resources are kept "well within safe ecological limits.” New Zealand's failure to act in regard to Maui’s dolphin specifically conflicts, with the CBD's
Strategic Goal A: Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society. Strategic Goal B: Reduce the direct pressures biodiversity and promote sustainable use sustainability. Strategic Goal C: To improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species environment and genetic diversity. The Baiji, or Chinese river dolphin, is the only cetacean to have gone extinct as a result of human activities. With just a few dozen survivors, Maui's dolphins are poised to follow suit as the first marine cetacean to die out due to human actions. Failure to address this urgent conservation crisis will forever tarnish New Zealand's reputation as an environmentally responsible nation. Would you give up seafood from New Zealand to save Maui's and Hector's dolphins?
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 them to near extinction. Unless things change, they will disappear forever. Since he 1970s, Hector’s dolphin populations have dropped by more than 75% from 30,000 to just over 7,000. The situation is even worse for Maui’s dolphins, their North Island subspecies. With just some 55 animals and around 20 breeding females left, Maui's dolphins are facing imminent extinction. Saving this species is a race against time that can only be won if the threat of fishing is removed from the dolphins’ habitat. But industry bodies have forcefully opposed every effort to protect these animals and even took the government to court on several occasions in an attempt to overturn protection measures. Both the Conservation and Primary Industries ministers said they are not implementing immediate protection measures because they fear being sued by the industry. No one wants this. But no one should be allowed to intimidate a government into allowing a species to be wiped out. There are a mere 55 Maui's dolphins left. All other avenues have been explored. This would be the very last resort to persuade the industry that this is not o.k. The end of 100% Pure New Zealand
 CLICK image to enlarge.
New Zealand’s fishing industry has had a very firm grip on successive governments for many years. Set netting (commercial and recreational) and trawling have decimated the country's endemic Maui’s dolphins from around 1,000 to less than 55 adults - that’s less than 20 breeding females. Yet the NZ government continues to drag its heals, ignores the science and gives credence to outlandish and misleading claims by the fishing industry, which denies responsibility for the animals' demise. At the recent IUCN World Conservation Congress, New Zealand was the only country amongst hundreds of other parties to vote against effective protection for the last handful of Maui’s dolphins by excluding harmful fishing methods from the dolphins’ range to prevent their extinction (see below). New Zealand’s reputation as an environmentally responsible nation is crumbling. As more Maui’s dolphins die, New Zealand's iconic fern is wilting. We need strong international support if we are to stand a chance of saving this species and avoid the first man-made extinction of a marine cetacean - something even the whalers didn’t quite manage.
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How the Law Lets Down the ‘Down-Under Dolphin’ and How to Fix It
A New Zealand lawyer speaks out
Photo: University of Otago
Nicola Wheen is a Senior Lecturer at New Zealand’s University of Otago’s Faculty of Law. With a strong research interest in New Zealand environmental law, Nicola is involved in recent and on-going projects about by-catch in fisheries, wildlife conservation, genetic modification, indigenous forests and Maori and environmental law. Her latest paper, entitled "How the Law Lets Down the ‘Down-Under Dolphin’ - Fishing-Related Mortality of Marine Animals and the Law in New Zealand”, which was published in the Journal of Environmental Law in September 2012, is both interesting and highly relevant to our cause. We are delighted to have Nicola explain her findings firsthand.
Here's what Nicola has to say:
“I examined New Zealand’s legislation to help understand why government controls on fishing are so weak despite research indicating that Hector’s dolphin populations are likely to continue declining and Maui’s dolphins are most likely doomed to extinction. I identified two key problem areas:
1. Conservation measures are mostly discretionary and are dependent on approval by the Fisheries Minister (who operates in a legal and political context that ‘allows fisheries interests to dominate decision-making about fishing-related mortality’), and
Here's what Nicola has to say:
“I examined New Zealand’s legislation to help understand why government controls on fishing are so weak despite research indicating that Hector’s dolphin populations are likely to continue declining and Maui’s dolphins are most likely doomed to extinction. I identified two key problem areas:
1. Conservation measures are mostly discretionary and are dependent on approval by the Fisheries Minister (who operates in a legal and political context that ‘allows fisheries interests to dominate decision-making about fishing-related mortality’), and
2. the legislation’s reference to the precautionary principle has been ‘framed and applied in a way that compromises the very policy preference for environmental conservation that this principle was designed and adopted to secure.’
Simple changes to the existing legislation could turn these problems around. They would involve:
a) making some conservation measures for the most at-risk species mandatory, and also allowing the Minister to make ‘reasonable’ (rather than only ‘necessary’) measures for other threatened species, thus ‘reducing external pressure’ on the minister and ‘making it easier’ for measures to be made;
b) removing legislative requirements for the Minister of Fisheries to approve all conservation measures, and instead enabling both ministers, or either minister, to make measures having consulted the other; and
c) re-structuring and re-phrasing the legislative reference to information principles so that it ‘better reflects the true meaning and intent of the precautionary approach’ and the overall importance of the idea that ‘absences of and uncertainties in information should not be used as reasons for failing to take measures to ensure sustainability."
Nicola sets out three simple and straight forward ways that would vastly improve marine conservation in New Zealand. For some species such as Maui's and Hector's dolphins, these changes are a matter of life and death.
Simple changes to the existing legislation could turn these problems around. They would involve:
a) making some conservation measures for the most at-risk species mandatory, and also allowing the Minister to make ‘reasonable’ (rather than only ‘necessary’) measures for other threatened species, thus ‘reducing external pressure’ on the minister and ‘making it easier’ for measures to be made;
b) removing legislative requirements for the Minister of Fisheries to approve all conservation measures, and instead enabling both ministers, or either minister, to make measures having consulted the other; and
c) re-structuring and re-phrasing the legislative reference to information principles so that it ‘better reflects the true meaning and intent of the precautionary approach’ and the overall importance of the idea that ‘absences of and uncertainties in information should not be used as reasons for failing to take measures to ensure sustainability."
Nicola sets out three simple and straight forward ways that would vastly improve marine conservation in New Zealand. For some species such as Maui's and Hector's dolphins, these changes are a matter of life and death.
New Zealand shames itself in front of the world
The New Zealand government has exposed its anti-conservation stance in the most spectacular way. At the recent IUCN World Conservation Congress, New Zealand was the only nation to cast a vote against a motion to stop the extinction of the last 55 or so Maui's dolphins and their endangered cousins, the Hector's dolphin. A total of 117 other countries as well as 460 organisations had unanimously called on New Zealand to ban the use of gill and trawl nets in waters of up to 100 metres deep in areas where the dolphins are found in an urgent bid to save them. The IUCN's demands perfectly match those of our turn the red sea green campaign, confirming once again the legitimacy of what we have been asking the government to do.
It had originally been thought that two countries had opposed to the motion, but it has since emerged that New Zealand had cast two opposing votes. With about 6000 daily participants, the IUCN World Conservation Congress is the world’s largest conservation event, which brings together professionals and governments from across the globe. The meeting also made reference to recently made recommendations by the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee to ban the use of gillnets and trawl fisheries from the entire range of Maui’s dolphin, and to put in place adequate observer coverage to assess the true extent of dolphin deaths. |
Hector's and Maui's dolphins inhabit coastal waters up to a depth of 100 m (red). Because only a fraction of their home is protected against harmful fishing methods (green) their numbers continue to dwindle away. CLICK map to enlarge
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New Zealand's extraordinary solo vote for extinction was met with international astonishment and has drawn widespread condemnation - except from representatives of the fishing industry, who rushed in to congratulate the government within days of the vote.
The government has painted itself into a very dark corner indeed and seems to have lost touch with world opinion, the will of its own people, as well as scientific fact. It now stands isolated and exposed, its indefensible stance a reputational liability.
We suspect that in months to come those responsible will look back at this decision as a significant error of judgement that will cost New Zealand and the dolphins dearly. With extinction looming ever closer, how many more dolphins have to die before New Zealand finally acts to turn the dolphins' fate around?
The government has painted itself into a very dark corner indeed and seems to have lost touch with world opinion, the will of its own people, as well as scientific fact. It now stands isolated and exposed, its indefensible stance a reputational liability.
We suspect that in months to come those responsible will look back at this decision as a significant error of judgement that will cost New Zealand and the dolphins dearly. With extinction looming ever closer, how many more dolphins have to die before New Zealand finally acts to turn the dolphins' fate around?
Dolphin News
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International Whaling Commission criticises New Zealand over failure to protect Maui's & Hector's dolphins
Hundreds of delegates from governments and conservation groups are gathered in Panama at the 64th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) this week to discuss the future of the world’s whales. Amidst the annual wrangling between pro- and anti-whaling fractions, there has also been occasion to consider the fate of the world's smallest and rarest marine cetacean, as we launch the first report in our new 'Facing Extinction' campaign series right at the event.
The IWC’s scientific body strongly urged New Zealand to take immediate steps to arrest the decade of decline of its only native dolphins, pointing out that current protection measures are inadequate in terms of the area and the fishing methods they cover. |
New Zealand tried to deflect these criticisms by pointing towards a recent extension of the protected area for Maui’s dolphins. Yet New Zealand failed to mention that these measures are merely temporary, don’t include trawl fishing and do not apply to most of the dolphins’ habitat. They therefore fall short of the IWC’s directions and will not prevent the dolphins’ extinction. Read more
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March for Maui's In New Zealand's capitol Wellington
People from all over New Zealand and conservation groups stood united as they took their peaceful plea to save the last Mauis' dolphins to the steps of New Zealand parliament in Wellington today. Community representatives also hand delivered a letter signed by 18 national and international conservation groups. In it the signatoryy organisations urged NZ's Prime Minister John Key to offer immediate and effective protection to the last Maui's dolphins survivors. See what it's all about. |
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