Christine Rose ~ Rescuing the Maui Dolphin

Published: July 10, 2014, midnight

New Zealand\u2019s Maui dolphin as an iconic species is hovering on the edge of extinction. Maui\u2019s used to be found all around NZ\u2019s North Island (Te Ika o Maui - The Fish of Maui). Maui\u2019s and Hectors (Papakanua) dolphins (they are sub species of the same group) were the most common dolphin along our coasts prior to the coming of the European. The area of concern today is from North of Wanganui in the South up to around Maunganui Bluff in North Auckland. However, their numbers have been falling dramatically, that back in the 1970\u2019s there were 2000 in number and now we are down to around just 55. From 30,000 Hector\u2019s in the 1970s, to 7,000 today, we can see where these species losses are trending. Three Maui\u2019s dolphins a year are killed in trawl/set nets in NZ, which are their biggest point source threat. We have to eliminate all human induced threats out of the habitat.