18 May 2007 - Wellington
Forest & Bird media release for immediate use
New research shows Banks Peninsula Hector’s dolphins still at risk from set nets
Research using listening devices has found that Hector’s dolphins are going into the inner reaches of Akaroa Harbour in
autumn – a time of year when set netting is allowed there.
Otago University Department of Zoology Associate Professor Liz Slooten says her research with fellow Associate Professor
Steve Dawson shows that these endangered dolphins remain at risk of entanglement and drowning in set nets.
The study, using listening devices called porpoise detectors that pick up sounds made by dolphins in the water, shows
that Hector’s dolphins continue to use the inner reaches of Akaroa Harbour at the time of year when set netting is
allowed.
The marine mammal sanctuary around Banks Peninsula totally bans set netting for four months of the year from November to
February, but allows recreational set netting for eight months from March to October in inshore parts of Akaroa and
Lyttelton Harbours, Pigeon Bay and Port Levy.
Liz Slooten says the presence of the dolphins in these areas at times of the year when set netting is allowed means they
are at risk.
“We have seen Hector’s dolphins within a few hundred metres of unattended set nets. We now know that these dolphins
spend quite a lot of time in these areas and not just in summer. The current rules allowing set nets to be used are
placing the dolphins in danger.”
Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles agrees a total ban on the use of set nets within the sanctuary is necessary
to adequately protect the dolphins.
“This research shows us that while set netting is allowed at certain times and places within the sanctuary, Hector’s
dolphins are in danger. Only a total ban on set net use inside the marine mammal sanctuary will provide the level of
protection the dolphins need.”
“The marine mammal sanctuary has succeeded in reducing deaths of Hector’s dolphins, but the dolphins are still being
killed in set nets, even inside the sanctuary boundaries. We need to get serious about protecting these dolphins and ban
set nets altogether.”
Hector’s dolphin facts:
Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori hectori) is the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphin and is found only
in New Zealand. Hector’s dolphins can be distinguished from other dolphin species by their small size (less than 1.5
metres) and distinctive rounded dorsal fin.
Hector’s dolphin is listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Species Threatened with
Extinction, with about 7000 remaining (down from about 26,000 in the 1970s when set netting began)
Set nets are the most serious threat to Hector’s dolphins – Department of Conservation figures show set nets are
responsible for more than 60% of deaths of Hector’s dolphins where the cause of death is known. Set nets are banned or
heavily restricted in many countries worldwide, including Australia, the UK and USA. Set nets kill nearly everything
that swims into them, including non-target marine life and seabirds, such as shearwaters, shags, penguins, seals and sea
turtles as well as dolphins.
- Created in 1988, the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary is one of just two marine mammal sanctuaries in New
Zealand waters and was established to protect New Zealand’s second-largest population of Hector’s dolphin (the largest
is off the South Island’s West Coast). There are about 900 Hector’s dolphins around the peninsula and about 1200 in the
wider Canterbury area.
- More than 25 Hector’s dolphins are caught each year in Canterbury alone. Most are caught outside the marine mammal
sanctuary, but at least eight have been caught inside the sanctuary boundaries between 1995 and 2005.
- Forest & Bird is calling for a nationwide ban on set netting to protect Hector’s dolphins and the critically endangered North
Island sub-species Maui’s dolphin. The Society is also seeking establishment of more marine mammal sanctuaries to
protect key populations of these dolphins.
ENDS