WCC 2012 Rec 142 - Activity Report

This resolution - operative para 1 - has not been implemented to protect critically endangered Maui dolphin and endangered Hector's dolphin.
For Maui dolphins the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) Scientific Committee Small Cetacean
Working Group has recommended action over several years. In 2018 they stated:
“Nonetheless, the sub-committee noted that no new management action has been enacted
since 2013 and concludes, as it has repeatedly in the past, that existing management
measures in relation to bycatch mitigation fall short of what has been recommended
previously and expresses continued grave concern over the status of this small, severely
depleted subspecies. The human-caused death of even one individual would increase the
extinction risk.
The sub-committee:
(a) re-emphasises that the critically endangered status of this subspecies and the inherent
and irresolvable uncertainty surrounding information on most small populations point to
the need for precautionary management;
(b) reiterates its previous recommendation that highest priority should be assigned to
immediate management actions to eliminate bycatch of Māui dolphins including closures
of any fisheries within the range of Māui dolphins that are known to pose a risk of bycatch
to dolphins (i.e. set net and trawl fisheries); and
(c) notes that the confirmed current range extends from Maunganui Bluff in the north to
Whanganui in the south, offshore to 20 n.miles, and it includes harbours - within this
defined area, fishing methods other than set nets and trawling should be used”
The NZ Government has yet to put forward measures which would meet the requirements in the resolution or the recommendations of the IWC Small Cetacean Committee.