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  • Create healthy seas
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Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

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All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
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

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Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...
Image showing two harpoon wounds in fin whale

Whalers kill just days after Iceland’s hunt suspension is lifted

Whalers in Iceland have claimed their first victims since the lifting (just a few days...
Fin whale

Icelandic government lifts suspension on cruel hunts

The Icelandic government is to allow fin whales to be hunted again after lifting a...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

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WDC in talks with New Zealand‘s Minister for Conservation over dolphin protection

WDC team meets NZ Minister for Conservation
WDC team meets NZ Minister for Conservation

Representatives from Whale and Dolphin Conservation have met with New Zealand’s Minister for Conservation, Eugenie Sage to discuss much-needed protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins.

The meeting was secured as part of WDC’s campaign to save these dolphins (collectively known as New Zealand dolphins) and took place as the New Zealand government is undertaking a review of the way it manages threats to the Māui and Hector’s populations.

A public consultation is now underway and thousands of WDC supporters have already taken part. WDC  will also submit its own detailed response to the proposals. WDC’s Philippa Brakes and Mike Bossley, together with dolphin biologist Associate Professor Karen Stockin, met with the Minister to discuss our contribution to the review process.

We pushed for protection of these dolphins from entanglement in fishing nets (bycatch) throughout their known habitat. We also expressed our concerns about the apparent shift in attention from bycatch to toxoplasmosis infections in the dolphins – a disease carried in cat faeces. We know that the only real solution is to remove fishing nets from the dolphins’ habitat.

The science is still out on the significance of toxoplasmosis and there are no known practical ways of dealing with this threat for the dolphins. In fact, toxoplasmosis is itself an indicator that these dolphins may be compromised by a range of different contaminants within their habitat. We urged the Minister to consider all the threats to the dolphins and their environment, but not to get too distracted, and to address the most urgent threat that we know can be managed - fishing.

We also provided evidence that the dolphins make an important contribution to the NZ tourism industry, that a high percentage of New Zealanders would be prepared to pay more for their fish in order to see these iconic dolphins protected and that the NZ tourism levy could be used to compensate fishers to bring about a more equitable solution and help ensure that Hector's dolphins tourism is sustainable.

Minister Sage listened carefully to our concerns and we are hopeful they will be taken on board when the plan is finally released.

Have your say...

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1 Comment

  1. Muriel in Servaege on 22nd August 2019 at 7:27 pm

    Good luck!

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