“Dolphins Down Under – Understanding the New Zealand Dolphin” This is the definitive book about Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins, published by Otago University Press. Now available from all good bookstores. Try your local Unity Books or Paper Plus. Most University Bookshops also stock the book. Another great place to buy it is at Black Cat […]

The Trust’s research projects on Hector’s dolphins (Banks Peninsula), bottlenose dolphins (Fiordland) and sperm whales (Kaikoura) have been in full swing. Tom Brough is starting a PhD project on Hector’s dolphins, based in Akaroa on Banks Peninsula. Marta Guerra’s PhD project on sperm whales in Kaikoura started with a ‘bang’. Within a few weeks of […]

The New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust was one of the sponsors for the biggest Marine Mammal Conference the Southern Hemisphere has ever seen. This was the first time the Society for Marine Mammalogy chose to hold its Biennial Conference in our part of the world. Needless to say, the NZ Whale & Dolphin Trust […]

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The Rt Hon. Mr John Key Prime Minister Hon. Mr. Nathan Guy Minister for Primary Industries Hon. Mr. Nick Smith Minister of Conservation Parliament Buildings Wellington 6011 New Zealand 17 April 2013 Dear Sirs The Society for Marine Mammalogy is the World’s largest professional group dedicated to the study of marine mammals, with a membership […]

The moment you’ve all been waiting for… The definitive book about Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins has just been published by Otago University Press. Now available from all good bookstores. If your bookshop doesn’t have it, tell them to order it from Otago University Press.

The Department of Conservation provides quarterly updates on the number of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphin deaths. Information just released, shows that 6 more dolphin deaths occurred in December 2012. This underscores concerns about unsustainable levels of human impact on New Zealand’s dolphins, with the vast majority caused by entanglement in fishing nets. Data from independent […]

A Maui’s dolphin is killed in a commercial gillnet, off Cape Egmont in Taranaki. This is well south of the protected area for Maui’s dolphin. Map of dolphin death, from Ministry for Primary Industries: This death could have been avoided, by including Taranaki in the protected area off the North Island west coast. Taranaki and […]

Before the end of the International Whaling Commission meeting, a decision was made. But it’s not all we could have hoped for, and not all that the IWC recommended. Let’s compare the decision made by David Carter (Minister for Primary Industry) with the International Whaling Commission’s recommendations. The International Whaling Commission recommended: ✓ Immediate extension […]

The Ministry for Primary Industries organised an Expert Panel meeting on Maui’s dolphin. The panel consisted of scientists from Auckland University, Otago University, the US National Marine Fisheries Service, National Institute of Water and Atmosphere, Te Papa and the Seafood Industry Council. Again, there was strong agreement that dolphin deaths in gillnets and trawl fisheries […]