Successful summer field season!

Researchers from the NZ Whale and Dolphin Trust have had an excellent summer field season. Liz Slooten and Steve Dawson spent a couple of months studying Hector’s dolphins at Banks Peninsula and are now back in Dunedin, teaching at Otago University. Tom Brough has started a new project studying Hector’s dolphin habitat preferences. He is […]

Dolphin death over Easter

A Hector’s dolphin died died in a ‘recreational’ (non-commercial) gillnet during the Easter weekend. Gillnets are allowed to be used in Akaroa Harbour from 1 April to 1 November every year. Research published in 2013 shows that Hector’s dolphins are actually still in the harbour at that time of year and allowing gillnets to be […]

Get your copy of the book!

“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 […]

Research projects

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 President of the Society for Marine Mammalogy writes to John Key – asking him to stop the airguns in Maui’s dolphin habitat immediately

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 book is out!

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.

Dolphin deaths continue…

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 […]