Call to rescue Maui’s dolphin gathers pace

7 May 2007

Auckland Regional Council (ARC), Franklin and Rodney District Councils, North Shore and Waitakere City Councils have all joined the critical fight to save the endangered Maui’s dolphin, a native of the North island’s west coast and whose numbers have plummeted to just over 100.

In the last month the urgent call to rescue the Maui’s dolphin has rapidly gained momentum. A public awareness campaign that began with environmental groups including Forest and Bird has now taken a big step-up.

ARC Deputy Chair Councillor Christine Rose emphasises the call for immediate action.

“We don’t want to be the only developed nation that lost a dolphin species in our lifetime because we didn’t do anything until it was too late.

“The survival of the species is on the brink. Extinction is forever, so it’s vital that we act now,” she says.

Cr Rose’s calls have been backed by Franklin and Rodney District Councils, and North Shore and Waitakere City Councils and there are indications of support from Northland Regional Council and Environment Waikato.

The ARC with support from the other councils is calling for a national set net ban. These fishing practices are considered to be the main cause of the species’ decline as Maui’s become entangled in the nets and once trapped are unable to reach the surface to breathe – they drown in minutes.

A partial set net ban already exists from New Plymouth to Northland including the Manukau Harbour mouth but this excludes critical parts of the Maui’s reported habitat.

Set and gill nets are internationally regarded as a great threat to marine life as they are indiscriminate in their catch. Bans on set and gill net fishing already exist in the US, Canada, Australia and alternatives have been successfully adopted. Despite this, these nets are regularly used recreationally and commercially in New Zealand.

With the world’s fisheries in rapid decline, forward thinking nations are clearly alert to the need to change age-old damaging practices in order to ensure the future of marine life.

In addition to a change in fishing practices, the ARC with support from the other councils, wants to establish a marine mammal sanctuary for the Maui’s off the Rodney coastline. In 1988 the Department of Conservation (DOC) established a now successful sanctuary off the Banks Peninsula to protect the Hector’s dolphin from gill net entanglement.

- New Zealand’s very own Maui’s dolphin is the smallest of the world’s 32 dolphin species. With their ‘mini’ size (they weigh just 50kg), rounded shape, little black dorsal fin and unusual eye patch these animals are distinctive and special.

- Found only off the West Coast of the North Island of New Zealand from Northland to New Plymouth, they are related to the more common yet still endangered Hector’s dolphin found in small populations around the South Island.

- Just thirty years ago the combined population of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins was over 30,000. Now we have 7000 Hector’s dolphins and today just over 100 Maui’s dolphins are swimming off our coastline.

- DOC has given the Maui’s dolphin a code red, ‘Nationally Critical’ status, and internationally it is listed by the UN as ‘Critically Endangered.’

- Set nets are locked down onto the sea bed and gill nets are anchored to the back of trawlers. Non-target catch on these nets can be as high as 72% and if they break free and exist as ‘ghost nets’ they are a threat to marine life for years.

ENDS

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