New Zealand’s Maui dolphin as an iconic species is hovering on the edge of extinction.
Maui’s used to be found all around NZ’s North Island (Te Ika o Maui - The Fish of Maui). Maui’s and Hectors (Papakanua) dolphins (they are sub species of the same group) were the most common dolphin along our coasts prior to the coming of the European.
The area of concern today is from North of Wanganui in the South up to around Maunganui Bluff in North Auckland.
However, their numbers have been falling dramatically, that back in the 1970’s there were 2000 in number and now we are down to around just 55. From 30,000 Hector’s in the 1970s, to 7,000 today, we can see where these species losses are trending.
Three Maui’s dolphins a year are killed in trawl/set nets in NZ, which are their biggest point source threat. We have to eliminate all human induced threats out of the habitat.