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Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...

New Zealand urged to take immediate action to protect the remaining Maui’s dolphins

New research presented to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which is currently meeting in San Diego, USA, strongly urges the New Zealand to take more immediate action to halt the decline in the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin.

Maui’s dolphins are only found around the shallow coastal waters of New Zeland’s North Island where their predominant threat is bycatch or entanglement in set gill-nets, a static fishing gear used widely within habitat critical to this tiny population of dolphins. Maui’s dolphins have never been as abundant as their cousins the Hector’s dolphin, from the South Island however their numbers are declining rapidly and experts predict that unless further measures are taken to protect them, the Maui’s dolphin will be extinct within the next 15 years – if not sooner. With only 43 – 47 individuals left, and only 10 of these mature females able to reproduce and add to the gene pool, the clock is ticking very loudly. 

Please add your voice to help save the critically endangered New Zealand Dolphin.

About Nicola Hodgins

Policy Manager at WDC