Endangered dolphins near extinction

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/28/hectors-dolphins-near-extinction


Hector's dolphins are found only in New Zealand where the population has fallen to 7,000. Photograph: Tobias Bernhard/ Tobias Bernhard/Corbis

The world's most endangered sea dolphins are sliding towards extinction in the face of damaging fishing methods, experts are warning.

Hector's dolphins are found only around New Zealand, where the population has fallen from 30,000 to around 7,000 since nylon fishing nets came into use in the 1970s, a conference on marine biodiveristy in Aberdeen will hear on Thursday.

The country's North Island population, a subspecies known as Maui's dolphins, is down to fewer than 100 mammals, according to Dr Barbara Maas, head of endangered species conservation for German environmental group NABU International – Foundation for Nature.

Research by Dr Liz Slooten, from Otago University in New Zealand, suggests commercial fishing gear known as gillnets – which create a wall of netting to catch fish – are drowning 23 Hector's dolphins a year on the east coast of the South Island.