Greenpeace tracks Māui dolphin in Manukau Harbour

  • 02/11/2016
Māui dolphin (Supplied/Greenpeace)
Māui dolphin (Supplied/Greenpeace)

Greenpeace New Zealand has teamed up with University of Auckland researchers to discover more about the critically endangered Māui dolphin, including where they go in winter.

The project was launched on Tuesday, and the team has already spotted three Māui south of the Manukau Head - almost 5 percent of the entire global population. 

Best estimates show there are only about 63 left. Catching a glimpse of one is rare.

Although scientists have information about where Māui dolphins go in summer, very little is known about where they go in the colder water months.

"They may be moving outside of the current sanctuary into areas where there are human related threats," says PhD student Olivia Hamilton.

"With so few Māui left, we need to gather all of the information we can about their distribution in order to understand how we can best protect the population."

Greenpeace will be taking the researchers out in inflatable boats through until the end of November, where they'll be monitoring the seas between Manukau Harbour and Port Waikato.

Dr Russel Norman, Greenpeace executive director, says it was the first time he'd ever seen a Māui.

"They are such beautiful creatures. They are tiny and surprisingly fast, and very distinctive with their Mickey Mouse dorsal fins and black and grey colouring," he says.

"It was bittersweet realising that the three that darted around our boat for half an hour actually represent 5 percent of the entire global population of Māui."

Mr Norman says the fate of the world's most endangered dolphin hangs in the balance.

"Their current protected zone is too small and only provides partial protection of where we know they like to be in summer" he says.

"It doesn't take into account confirmed sightings of the dolphins outside of that area, or the possibility that they can travel large distances - especially in colder water months."

Greenpeace is calling on the Government to extend the dolphin's marine mammal sanctuary refuge to cover their full habitat range, and issue a ban on net fishing, seabed mining, petroleum exploration and drilling from within the sanctuary.

Over 65,000 people have signed Greenpeace's petition on the matter.

Newshub.