For the sake of the nearly extinct Hector’s and Māui dolphins, please urge the New Zealand government to ban all gillnets and trawl nets up to the 100 meter depth contour as recommended by the IUCN and the scientific community.
The Hector’s and Māui Dolphins Threat Management Plan laid out by the Government of New Zealand DOES NOT provide for adequate or effective protections for these highly vulnerable species. Please join us in calling to ban all gillnets and trawl nets up to the 100 meter depth contour.
If you have 20 seconds right now, PLEASE use this pre-filled form and make your public comment here. This comment not only calls for the ban on all gillnets and trawl nets up to the 100 meter depth contour, but also calls for several other commonsense actions that would go far to help save these species from extinction. Once again, you can do this by clicking here. Every comment counts.
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New Zealand is a country with less than 5 million people, it is less populated than the greater San Francisco Bay Area and yet it has amazing biodiversity and species that can be found nowhere else in the world. Most non-New Zealanders know of the Kiwi, a flightless bird native only to New Zealand, but many may not have heard of the Māui and Hector’s dolphins. Both can only be found in the coastal waters of New Zealand, a Mission Blue Hope Spot. The Māui dolphin (the north island subspecies) is critically endangered with around 50 individuals left and holds the unwanted position of being one of the most endangered dolphins on the planet. The Hector’s dolphin (the south island subspecies) is endangered with an estimate of about 10,000 individuals, however some sub-populations have less than 200 individuals.
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