Dolphin protection measures not working in NZ...

Dolphin protection measures In New Zealand not working;

Measures to protect Hector's dolphins in NZ is not working says Otago Univ researchers because too many areas of the country left out.


Hector’s dolphin is found only in New Zealand. A management plan (called a “threat management plan” because the species is considered Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)) prepared by the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation shows that deaths in fishing nets are the most serious impact on the species.

University of Otago researchers say the highly threatened Hector's dolphin population around New Zealand is still declining despite new protection measures implemented two years ago.

Associate Professor Liz Slooten says too many compromises were made in the protection package and too many areas of the country were not included in the measures.

?For example, Tasman Bay, Golden Bay and Taranaki were left out and in other areas dolphins are declining because protection does not go far enough offshore."

Ms Slooten says the number of Hector's dolphins still being caught in the likes of gill nets is too great for the population to cope. She says Hector's dolphin populations are still declining and the current protection measures will still result in about 600 dying by 2050.

Another story

New Zealand bottlenose dolphins abbreviate body language...

We learn something new every day in the wonderful world of marine animals...

Spanish and British researchers have shown that New Zealand bottlenose dolphins abbreviate their body language, just as humans shorten commonly-used words.

Dolphins slapping their tails, diving, flopping sideways, and performing other movements when surface swimming, appear to use the same "linguistic economy" in their swimming movements, according to the researchers.

"Patterns of dolphin behaviour at the surface obey the same law of brevity as human language, with both seeking out the simplest and most efficient codes," said Dr Ramon Ferrer i Cancho, from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, in Spain.

This "law of brevity" proposed by linguists holds that the most frequently used words, such as "the" and "but", are also the shortest.

Although dolphins communicate mostly by means of audible clicks and whistles, experts believe they also employ body language when swimming close to one another.

Ferrer i Cancho studied Fiordland bottlenose dolphins in Fiordland's Doubtful Sound with a British colleague Dr David Lusseau, from Aberdeen University. Their report, Efficient Coding in Dolphin Surface Behavioural Patterns, has just been published in a science journal, Complexity.

The scientists found that each movement pattern made by the creatures could be broken down into one or more of four basic units. For example, the "tail slap" pattern could be divided up into three sub-movements given the names "slap", "tail" and "two".

A pattern called "spy hop" was made up of the units "stop", "expose", and "head". In contrast, the "side flop" pattern only comprised "leap" and "side", while a movement dubbed "tailstock dive" consisted of only one unit, the "dorsal arch".

In total the researchers counted more than 30 patterns of behaviour and their related units.

Dolphins executed many behaviour patterns made up of just one unit, and far fewer composed of four units.

"The simple and efficient behaviour strategies of dolphins are similar to those used by humans with words, and are the same as those used, for example, when we reduce the size of a photographic or video image in order to save space," Ferrer i Cancho said.

Acknowledgements TV ONE News.

The unique language of dolphins...

The unique language of dolphins...

First published at Qassia:

The unique language of dolphins is being recorded - decoding the secrets.
Decoding the Maui dolphins secrets - one of the most endangered of their species.

Its unique language is being recorded for the first time to discover where it goes on its journeys.

There are only 110 Maui dolphins left in the world and they all live in coastal waters along a section of the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Otago University's researchers believe they routinely visit many of the harbours dotted along the coast after deciphering and monitoring its unique "clicking" langage.

Using echo-location sonar equipment anchored to buoys in west coast harbours, researchers believe they have evidence of the dolphins roving ways.

Dolphins apparently use ultrasonic sonar clicks and each species has its own particular accent, just like humans.

Compared to other dolphin species, Maui's and their close relation, the Hector's dolphin, have a click frequency range of 112-130 kHZ, similar to the bottlenose dolphin I wrote about a few months ago, but a higher frequency to the common dolphin and the dusky dolphin.

Most of the Maui's and Hector's dolphins sounds are beyond human hearing, with their only audible sounds being a squeal or cry created by high frequency "clicks".

The study was part of conservation efforts to help the endangered Maui dolphin avoid extinction.

The Fisheries Ministry and Department of Conservation are working on a strategy to meet a balance of the dolphin's survival and the fishing industry. An interim net ban has been put in place along the Maui's coastal range, but not inside harbours.

It is a miracle that the dolphins can find their way out of the myriad of nets in these harbours.

A recent news item would suggest that the future of these animals is becoming a priority with maritime authorities; that must be a very good thing for their future.

Dolphin Language





Contributor's Note
A unique language