Save New Zealand’s dolphins

This video is called Hector’s & Maui’s Dolphins appeal by William Trubridge.

From Wildlife Extra:

New Zealand chastised by IWC for failure to protect world’s rarest dolphins

International Whaling Commission criticises New Zealand over failure to protect Maui’s & Hector’s dolphins

July 2012. Hundreds of delegates from government 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, New Zealand’s little known Maui’s and Hector’s Dolphins.

The IWC’s scientific body 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.

Nylon nets led to edge of extinction

Since the introduction of nylon filament nets in the 1970s, Hector’s dolphin numbers have dropped from 30,000 to around 7,000. The situation for Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of Hector’s dolphins, is even worse. More than 94% are already lost and Maui’s dolphins are now confined to very small remnant population on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. With just 55 survivors older than one year, less than 20 breeding females, and an annual decline of around three percent, Maui’s dolphins are facing imminent extinction.

The New Zealand government has come under fire for opposing action to save the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin at the world’s largest conservation summit – with leading conservation groups calling New Zealand’s actions on the international stage ‘shameful’: here.

February 2013. 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: here.

Tool-using dolphins form subculture: here.

Scientists find out that dolphins ‘talk’ like humans: here.

Related articles

• New Zealand dolphin faces extinction, group warns (phys.org)
• Icelandic whaling scandal (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Australian baby dolphin endangers, saves pod (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Leave No Dolphin Behind: Dolphin Pod Carries Injured Member Until She Stops Breathing (blogs.smithsonianmag.com)
• Dolphins form self-made ‘raft’ to try and save dying friend (ctvnews.ca)
• Dolphins try to save dying companion (bbc.co.uk)
• Video Shows Intelligent Dolphin Asking Divers for Help (techeblog.com)