NZ Criticised Over Failure To Protect Rare Dophins
NZ Criticised Over Failure To Protect Rare Dophins
Saturday, 7 July 2012, 12:23 pm
Press Release: NABU International - Foundation for Nature
For immediate release: 6 July 2012
NABU International
International Whaling Commission criticises New Zealand OVER FAILURE to protect RARE dolphins
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 worlds 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 Zealands little known Mauis and Hectors Dolphins.
The IWCs 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.
Since the introduction of nylon filament nets in the 1970s, Hectors dolphin numbers have dropped from 30,000 to around 7,000. The situation for Mauis dolphins, a subspecies of Hectors dolphins, is even worse. More than 94% are already lost and Mauis dolphins are now confined to very small remnant population on the west coast of New Zealands 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.
More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1207/S00079/nz-criticised-over-failure-to-protect-rare-dophins.htm