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YEAH RIGHT! SCIENCE AND MAUI'S DOLPHINS BY KEITH INGRAM T he recent announcement by the Minister and Department of Conservation that the population of Maui's dolphins on the North Island's western coast has been reduced to 55 animals, should come as no surprise. Likewise the call to further ban set netting and or extend the current set net exclusion zones by the environmental sector equally should be of no surprise to fishers. But it has given rise to me bursting into words if only to open the debate with some honesty. But before I do I wish to clearly state this magazine continues to support the protection of our sea birds and oceanic sharks with the exception of the New Zealand fur seal and our marine mammals. Yes, the jury remains out on the fur seal, for they are no longer under threat and are at a point on our coast where even the environmental agencies can no longer manage their impact on fisheries or the local marine environment. However, we aren't here to discuss seals. Rather, let's focus on the Maui's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui), the world's smallest dolphin, found only on the western coast of the North Island. New Zealand's rarest dolphin is thought to have numbered SKIPPER GOES LIVE! www.skipper.co.nz PHOTO COURTESY ERIN GREEN around 111 animals a couple of years ago. In 2012 a DoC- commissioned study estimated the Maui's dolphin population to consist of 55 with a 95 percent confidence interval of plus or minus between 48 to 69. That this new official estimate is for individuals aged more than one year and excludes calves of under a year cannot be ignored. At this rate they are clearly heading for extinction and why? Until the last decade, Maui used to be known as the North Island Hector's dolphin, until research showed the North and South Island dolphins as being separate sub-species that are physically and genetically distinct from each other. There is a suggestion that this may have been due to the isolation from their southern cousins and inbreeding, which may explain the continued decline of this separate family group. Maybe we should be capturing a large number of their cousins from the south to improve the gene pool? Sadly, the Maui's dolphin whanau, or as Captain Cook first called them the cloudy water dolphin because they were generally seen feeding in the surf or white water, in pods of several dolphins close to shore in water less than 20m deep, remain in decline. INTRODUCTORY OFFER For a limited time only subscribe online to read our electronic edition of Professional Skipper magazine for FREE. Join the Skipper Club to get our bi-monthly newsletters and Skipper Bulletins. Y FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK VISIT www.skipper.co.nz OR EMAIL: keith@skipper.co.nz 60 Professional Skipper May/June 2012 This is getting to be serious because in talking with the fishermen, no one wants to catch these little critters. And if the negative, ostracising, brow-wiping, chest-beating reaction by the greenies to the news and an honest report of one being caught recently off Taranaki is anything to go by, it might have been better for the fisherman concerned to have stayed quiet and just dumped the body. But no! He did the right thing by the law. Yes, he dumped the body after identifying the animal, as he is required to do on a commercial fishing boat. He reported the catch, time and position, as he was required to do by law. And then he copped a whole heap of crap from the green brigade which the law should have protected him from – but not so! DoC research confirms the Maui range to be from south Kaipara Heads to south Raglan, meanwhile our Hector's cousins are known to roam as far north as Manukau. Yes you heard me. In searching DoC websites we are advised that currently DoC have identified two Hectors swimming with a pod of Maui off VIP.S85