Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand dolphin’
WDC’s new rugby partnership helps tackle key threats to whales and dolphins
WDC is delighted to announce that we are an Official Charity Partner of the 2018 Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge University Rugby Clubs, to be held at Twickenham Stadium on December 6th. The Varsity Match is one of the world’s longest running sporting fixtures and represents the pinnacle of amateur and student rugby where…
Read MoreNew Zealand government to undertake net review after dolphin deaths
The government in New Zealand is reviewing the use of commercial set nets (a type of gillnet that is attached to the seabed) after the deaths of five Hector’s dolphins in one net in February. The incident took place off the Banks Peninsula off the east coast of the South Island. A complete ban on…
Read MoreWhaling commission voices grave concern over Maui’s dolphin future
Scientists from the International Whaling Commission have voiced their “grave concern” for the endangered Maui’s dolphin, a sub-species of the New Zealand dolphin. Estimates for the number of remaing dolphins range from 43 to 69 with one researcher, Dr. Liz Slooten, predicting there could be just a few individuals left within a couple of decades.…
Read MoreNew Zealanders Want to Pay More Tax
A report published this week shows a large majority of New Zealanders are prepared to pay a ‘Dolphin Tax’ to stop New Zealand dolphins dying in fishing nets. The report was commissioned by Whale and Dolphin Conservation. It was presented in summary form to the Biennial meeting of the Marine Mammal Society which was held…
Read MoreHow not to save a species!
Less than a week after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) urged the Government of New Zealand to do more to save the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin there has been a dramatic turn of events. Instead of establishing more protective measures to save this endemic species, the NZ Government have in fact opened up a potential…
Read MoreNew Zealand Dolphin – How to lose the race to extinction, Part 1
Extinction is a sensitive word in New Zealand. Around the world, people have an image of New Zealand as a wild, natural landscape with protected oceans, a nuclear free zone in the glorious “land of the hobbit.” In fact, as relatively unspoilt as the country is and as much as I like New Zealand, it…
Read MoreWDC raises plight of New Zealand dolphin at scientific meeting
WDC has a small but hardworking team at the Biennial meeting of the Marine Mammal Society taking place this week at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, NZ. At the meeting are Erich Hoyt from the UK, Philippa Brakes from NZ and Mike Bossley based in Australia, all of whom have been involved in presenting…
Read MoreWDC survey finds New Zealanders are willing to pay to protect rare dolphins
An independent survey, commissioned by WDC, has revealed that 80% of New Zealanders not only want to see more protection measures for dolphins, they are also willing to help pay for them. Every year, between 110 and 150 New Zealand (Hector’s) dolphins die in fishing nets and, over past decades, the population has plunged from…
Read MoreCynical token gesture to protect North Island New Zealand dolphin
New Zealand Minister for Conservation Dr Nick Smith recently announced a 350km2 extension to the set netting ban in the North Taranaki Bight. Any extension to the tiny protected area for the NZ Dolphin is welcome but this announcement seems designed to delay and possibly even avoid the major extension to protection measures required to…
Read MoreInteresting exchange in the NZ Parliament on the issue of Maui dolphins
You can read more about WDC’s work to help protect Maui and Hectors dolphins
Read More