In late September a New Zealand government press secretary resignation was linked to the Prime Minister's ban on his attending the World Council of Whalers conference. New Zealand's admirable stand against commercial whaling is being complicated by the November conference, hosted by the Waitangi Fisheries Commission in Nelson, which will assemble indigenous proponents of whaling from around the world. The Council reportedly receives core funding from commercial whaling interests, such as Japan. Japan has plans for worldwide commercial hunts under the cover of aboriginal subsistence rights. Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Maori Development, had offered NZ$5,000 towards convening a workshop on the cultural heritage of whale bone, "taonga", at the conference. The Maori are seeking changes to the New Zealand Marine Mammal Protection Act, for example to give them the right to decide at a stranding if they will return a live animal to sea or kill to eat, but have stated they are not interested in commercial whaling.

Recently the NZ Minister of Conservation, Sandra Lee, listed the tiny Hector's dolphin as threatened. New Zealand's "own" dolphin also was just listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as endangered. The geographically isolated North Island population of perhaps 100 is listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered (see http://www.redlist.org).

Nevertheless, a proposal to catch and satellite tag Hector's dolphins is under review by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Principle Investigators are Greg Stone, of the New England Aquarium in the U.S., and Alastair Hutt, of DOC Karoa, Banks Peninsula. Both men have been researching acoustic deterrents, called "pingers", to help solve the entanglement problem, and have attempted to apply suction cup tags to this species to quantify diving behavior and movements. They propose to catch bow-riding dolphins with a noose around the tail, a technique used in the 1970's, when at least 24 Hector's were caught temporarily for research. These also had cattle tags applied, most of which quickly pulled out. Interestingly, the scientist responsible recalls that most dolphins quickly returned to bow ride, but he later disputed that Hector's dolphins could be distinguished in the wild. A bolt through the dorsal fin, presumably low-drag and designed to fall off after a specific period would attach the $10,000 satellite tags. The project may intend to catch up to 50 dolphins, including some from the 100 or so of the North Island population. Tissue sampling may gather data on pollutants and genetics.

CSI and many others question the conservation value of these studies, particularly on a population already severely pressured by fisheries entanglements. It is unclear what experience, knowledge or guidance the DOC permitting official has with tagging, tail-captures, and the population dynamics of low-numbered populations. Historical evidence is being assembled to show that dusky dolphins died during some tail capture efforts, and a 1970's project may have injured more Hector's dolphins than initially reported.

This highly invasive research on this endangered species is not merited because the effects of tagging are unknown, there is potential to seriously harm individual dolphins and perhaps the North Island population, and modern, benign techniques for individual identification and tracking, plus genetic and pollutant studies, are well advanced alternatives. The proposal gives no serious consideration of impacts of the tag or tagging process. For example, dolphins use blood circulating through the dorsal fin to keep reproductive organs and other internal tissues cool. Some research suggests that severing vessels, as from a tag bolt, may result in reproductive failure. If this occurs in one of the breeding members of the 100 North Island dolphins the effect will be significant. In addition the tail-grab technique does result in injury to individuals, and social trauma to groups, and has been demonstrated to teach negative reactions to boats. In spite of anthropomorphic and rationalized comments from researchers and captivity specialists in the 1970's, this latter result conflicts with the needs of commercial dolphin watching, which relies on closely approaching dolphins.

Napier's Marineland is the only facility displaying captive dolphins in New Zealand. Marineland currently holds two female common dolphins. Both are estimated to be over 30 years of age and were wild caught from Hawke Bay in 1974. Two 15-year-old common dolphins died in September 1998 and June 1999. Napier's history is spotty; of four dolphins caught in 1970 one died six weeks after capture. A second died three weeks later, following an attack by a captive leopard seal. One more died a week later. The last one died after less than three years in captivity. Recently a Marineland spokesman said "We acknowledge the past practice of bringing dolphins in from the wild was unacceptable. But that is retrospective morality."

Recent discussions centered on what to do when one of the remaining dolphins at Marineland dies. The options considered included leaving the dolphin alone at Marineland, introducing another species for company and stimulation, transferring the dolphin to another aquarium, attempting to rehabilitate the dolphin to the wild, or euthanasia. The report did not mention importing more dolphins, but suggested that animals such as seals and fish could be introduced to the dolphin pool. Marineland, the Napier City Council, and U.S. captivity representatives instead seized the opportunity to press for imports of four bottlenose dolphins from the United States. The import proposal is now on the Minister's desk, and she is reported to have written to the council suggesting that "... a significant and expensive upgrade..." of Marineland would be necessary to meet international standards for accommodating bottlenose dolphins. However, a permit to import cetaceans for captive display is entirely at the Minister's discretion, albeit not on personal grounds. A Private Members Bill - Prohibition on Capture of Marine Mammals (Whales and Dolphins in Captivity) Bill, received a lot of support under the previous government, but never went through the final stages. That government's policy was to decline applications for the capture of cetaceans for public display in New Zealand, an option that has also been ruled out in this instance.

In all these cases the Minister of Conservation can influence permit decisions and national policy. However, she is burdened with three official portfolios and many issues. CSI requests that you write a respectful letter to: The Hon. Sandra Lee, Minister of Conservation, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand, Fax: (04) 495-8446. Voice your concerns over these issues. Moreover, we ask you to suggest that the Minister consider regulations on these issues to stabilize New Zealand practices, in accordance with the New Zealand MMPA of 1978, Section 28, "Regulations (1) The Governor General may, from time to time by Order in Council, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes: (j) Regulating, prohibiting, or restricting the keeping of any marine mammal, marine mammal product, or any product containing anything derived from a marine mammal."