The New Zealand Department of Conservation is planning a joint threat-management project with the Ministry of Fisheries in an effort to decrease the number of Hector's dolphins who die as a result of fishing.

Of the nineteen reported Hector's dolphin deaths over the past eight months, eleven of those have been confirmed by pathology reports as being caused by fishing practices.

DOC spokesperson Nicola Vallance says in past years it has been hard to determine what the dolphins have died of, because until now pathology tests were not carried out. Vallance says a crucial part of gathering the information comes from the fishermen who catch the dolphins and report to DOC. The Hector's dolphin is the world's smallest dolphin. Numbers of Hector's dolphins are estimated at about 7,000, but have plummeted by more than two-thirds since monofilament set nets were introduced in the 1970s. In 1970 there were over 26,000 Hector's dolphins.

Last week, an expert panel, involving a range of scientists and marine mammal experts, met to assess and evaluate threats to the Hector's dolphins. The threat-management plan is aimed to be finished by the end of the year.