Bycatch News Archive 2008

Dolphin mutilations increasing
(Added:- 07 December 2008)
The number of Hectors dolphins being mutilated on New Zealand's coastlines is growing, according to figures obtained from the NZ Department of Conservation.
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Disappearing dolphins
(Added:- 20 October 2008)
New research confirms that two of the world’s most endangered dolphin species are disappearing at rapid rates. Associate professors Liz Slooten and Steve Dawson from the University of Otago, New Zealand applied a standard method to determine whether human-induced mortality is causing the decline of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins. Both say if Hector’s dolphins are to be saved, gill nets need to be removed from their habitats because they are having a devastating effect on the animals. The research concluded that the already endangered dolphins are disappearing at rates ten times faster than populations can sustain.

Photographic evidence of dolphin deaths
(Added:- 19 March 2008)
New Zealand Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick recently released photographs of dead dolphins killed in trawl nets off the west coast of the North Island. Although it is not uncommon for dolphins to be captured in nets, it is unusual to have such a high number of reported deaths over a one month period. The Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Fisheries are working together to investigate why so many dolphins died in this short time, and how dolphin-safe fishing practices can be improved. Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick says the photographs are horrific and deeply upsetting.

Dolphin freed from rope entanglement
(Added:- 21 January 2008)
A common dolphin was spotted off a beach at Swanage in Dorset this weekend with a piece of knotted rope - thought to have come from fishing pots, wrapped around its head. Rescuers who managed to free the animal said that although it was badly disorientated, had sustained a cut behind its eye and was bleeding from the mouth, the dolphin eventually became much stronger and swam back out to sea. It is unusual to see common dolphins so far inshore as, they tend to inhabit deeper waters, unlike bottlenose dolphins which frequent our inshore coastal areas.

Dolphin deaths increase
(Added:- 10 January 2008)
The number of hector's dolphins dying increased by two thirds in 2007. The New Zealand Department of Conservation figures show 25 hector's dolphins, which are an endangered species, were found dead in 2007, up from 15 in 2006.
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