Hello,

 As some of you know, I am part of a campaingn against set-nets to help stop the Mauis and Hectors dolphins from becoming extinct. And I would love some help!

 Just to get you into the mood, here is the article I wrote for Salient:

Hector’s Dolphins in Crises
 
They surfed towards me. Three Hector’s dolphins. Their smooth grey bodies were framed in the blue-green wave. They dived below me, to re-emerge from the dark depths a meter away. I floated there, mesmerized. These playmates had freely come to swim with me.

 Due to some of New Zealanders fishing practices these magical moments may be lost forever. This year yet more Hectors Dolphin's died in set nets. Hectors and Maui’s Dolphins are the most endangered marine dolphins. They reside only in New Zealand. By using set nets in commercial and recreational fishing, we are on our way to become the first country to knowingly allowing a dolphin species to become extinct.

 These dolphin species have been declining steadily for years. In 1970 the Hectors dolphin population was around 26000. Today it is just 7000. There are only 111 Maui dolphins left.
 
Due to the dolphins slow reproduction rate every individual that dies brings them closer to extinction. We must act now before we lose these amazing creatures forever.

It is critical we campaign for the government to create a national set net ban, advocate for the species in relation to the Threat Management Plan that the government is developing this year and producing comprehensive proposals for the establishment of new marine mammal sanctuaries.

You can help by filling in the petition that some fellow members of Gecko and I will have out at the quad on Friday 21st of September or join the action down on Cuba Street!

Six other Universities around the country have joined in on the day of action – Otago, Waikato, Lincoln, Canterbury, Auckland and Massey. This is a huge show of support and the first combined effort from SANE – Students of Aotearoa Network for the Environment, and it is all driven by your own Victoria University's Environment Club – Gecko. WWF and Forest and Bird are also both behind this day.

Take a moment to help these fellow mammals. We must join together so it doesn’t just become another of the thousands of human caused extinctions.

New Zealand is the top of the list for likely extinctions. Are we a hypocritical 'clean green' country, or are we a country to be proud of?

Why do the beautiful dolphins not share the same protection to that of the Kiwi and Kakapo whom most New Zealanders will never even see?

Let’s protect our heritage our Toanga.

 Here is the plans for friday:

SAVE THE HECTORS DOLPHINS

ACTION PLAN!!!

Hello all,

Here is my plan for the 21^st - Set Net Ban Day of Action here in Wellington.

1. 10:00 Meet at Oriental Bay and have the person in the dolphin suit be "caught" by the set net.
    
2. 10:30 Start walking up to town going down Courtney place to Cuba St. having the person in the dolphin suit wrapped up and carried in the set net. (I was thinking a stretcher would be even better if we could get our hands on ones – so if anyone has a stretcher or can get one please contact me ASAP!!!) We can have people collecting signatures along the way.
3. 
   11:00 Once at Cuba St. set up the set-net across part of the walk way and help the WWF volunteers collect signatures.
4. 
   11:30 Start walking toward parliament, again carrying the ‘dolphin’ and collecting signatures.

1. 12:00 Reach parliament. Do another ‘catching the dolphin’ demonstration on the steps.

1. Continue our journey up The Terrace.

1. Go into the Ministry of Fisheries building. Make our point.

1. Continue our journey to Uni.

1. Set up the set net across the Quad and collect signatures.

So this means I need lots of volunteers to help!! That means YOU!!!!!! So please send me an e-mail so I know how many people I have coming down. We probably have a van, so we could meet at the Hunter car park at 9:15. I’ll contact you if this changes.

If you can not get enough time away from uni (but really, who needs to go to class when there are dolphins dying??), it would be great if you could collect signatures in the Quad at any time during the day. I can get you lots and lots of petitions!!!

If anyone has any more suggestions please pass them on to me!

Also, do not forget the TALK BY LIZ ON HECTORS DOLPHINS this Monday at 5-6pm in Meeting Room 2. It will be a fantastic talk as Liz has been studying these dolphins for years.

Terra Dumont

 Hector’s dolphins

Hector’s dolphin ecology and behaviour,

and how you can have your say in their protection

Associate Professor Liz Slooten from the University of Otago will give a slide show about her 23 years of research on Hector’s dolphin, including the North Island subspecies Maui’s dolphin. You will be entertained with beautiful pictures and insights into the biology and behaviour of these fascinating dolphins which are only found in New Zealand. She will also outline government plans to better protect the species. A Threat Management Plan has just been released for public consultation. You will hear about the effectiveness of the conservation options in the plan and how you can have your say.

Monday 17 September, 5-6pm

Meeting Room 2, Student Union Building, Kelburn

Changes to the Day of Action Plan

Due to the fact that I have been told that was quite an ambitious plan due to the early morning start and long duration.

Here is the new plan:

8:00 Have the demonstration at Oriental Parade. Catch all the early morning walkers (maybe even some of you employed people could even make it…).

Then take a break.

12:00 Cuba Street to catch the lunch time crowd

1:00 Head to Parliament, Ministry of Fisheries then uni

So I would love help for any or all of these missions!

And any ideas for a wet weather back up plan would be much appreciated!

Thanks!!!!!!!

Terra

Hello,

 A small change of plans - WWF are collectong signatures at Midland Park on Lambton Quay, so we will meet them there.

 Terra

Here Paul Ross' email from NZ Marine Sciences Society - for those who want to comment on the Ministry of Fisheries' Dolphin Threat Management Plan Draft (link to this document included).

Hi All,

I am putting together the NZMSS submission on the Hector’s and Maui’s Dolphin Threat Management Plan Draft.

As I know far more about cockles than dolphins I was hoping to enlist your help in putting this submission together.

In our submission we need to discuss whether we believe the management plan is adequate to protect these dolphins and whether there needs to be more research done (i.e. what research needs to be done) in order to meet these objectives.

The document is available at:

http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Consultations/hector/default.htm

This submission is meant to represent a consensus of opinions of all NZMSS members so any opinions or help with producing this submission would be much appreciated.

Submissions are due 24th of October.

Thanks again.

Phil Ross

I have info compliled by ECO on what needs to be included in the plan, and some submision forms written up by Gecko. So if anyone would like to write a submision, I can pass onto you all the resources! More submissions the better! It seriosly only takes like 5 min!

Thanks!!!

 Terra

Oh man thats really sad. Actually me and some mates from aucks were set-netting in the manukau 2 years ago and we caught one of those. It was pretty much stuffed when we found it so we kept it. Its still in the freezer waiting till I find a Japanese guy who can tell me how to cook it. Yous seem to know heaps about them. Any ideas what to do with it?

Cheers, Bruce from Titirangi.