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Dolphin in Brazil helping with fishing illustration

Dolphins and fishermen working together

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Gray whale (eschrichtius robustus) Gray whale in Ojo de liebre lagoon Baja California.

Why we’re walking for whales to save the world

We've got enormous ambitions when it comes to fighting climate breakdown, and so two members...
Dolphins with keepers in the new Windsor Safari Park. Image: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo

Three decades on from UK’s last dolphin show, what needs to change?

The UK hasn't had captive whales and dolphins on display for 30 years, but it's...
Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...
Whale evolution cover

How did whales end up living in the ocean?

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Fishers chatting

Scottish fishers working with us to reduce risks to whales

Small changes to fishing gear could make a big difference to whales around Scotland, and...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
tins of whale meat

How Japan’s whaling industry is trying to convince people to eat whales

Japan's hunters kill hundreds of whales every year despite the fact that hardly anyone in...

WDC Report Captures the Attention of NZ Politicians

New Zealand’s endemic dolphin species (the Hector’s dolphin and its subspecies Maui’s dolphin) have been in rapid decline since the 1970s due to fisheries by catch. The overall population has decreased from about thirty thousand down to about seven thousand, with the Maui’s subspecies now down to about 50 adults.

WDC has been working to protect these dolphins for many years and has been spearheading the call for a national dolphin sanctuary.

Last week we formally released our report showing New Zealanders want their dolphins protected and are prepared to pay for it. A representative sample of a thousand people were polled and the results show they are prepared to pay more for their fish if it means the dolphins are protected.

WDC’s NZ consultant Gemma McGrath and eminent dolphin expert Professor Elisabeth Slooten took our report to Wellington, the political capital of NZ and met with politicians from various parties to try and persuade them to take dolphin protection policies to the national election in late September. We are optimistic that most parties will indeed do this.

NZ media have given the report positive coverage with headlines like “Kiwis would pay to protect dolphins” and “New Zealanders Willing to Pay Tax for Maui Dolphin Protection”.

The report “ASSESSING NEW ZEALANDERS’ WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY TO PROTECT THE ENDANGERED NEW ZEALAND DOLPHIN (CEPHALORHYNCHUS HECTORI) A BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS COMPARING THREE SCENARIOS.” can be found on our website at:

http://whales.org/sites/default/files/new-zealand-dolphin-report.pdf

About Erich Hoyt

Erich is a Research Fellow at WDC and Co-chair of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force. He is a director of the Far East Russian Orca Project (FEROP). View references to Erich's published material on Google Scholar. Follow Erich on Twitter.