Dave Rastovich and Lauren Hill travel to Raglan, on the West Coast of New Zealand, for the annual Maui's Dolphin Day celebration and community recycled raft race.
EXTINCTION IS FOREVER: Help us reach our goal of 5,500 "Let’s Face It" Visual Petitions...the last 55 Maui’s Dolphins need us!
If you have already created a VP, you know how fun & easy it is to do. You can team up with a friend, and its fun for everyone. Events such as festivals, parties, gatherings with co-workers and friends are great places for connecting and collecting many more “Let’s Face It” VPs. So bring your camera and image of Hector’s / Maui’s Dolphins along with you.
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” - Albert Einstein
Eastern population of North Pacific right whales (~30), the western population of gray whales (~120) and several populations of river dolphins numbering less that 100. The baiji, or Chinese river dolphin, is the only cetacean to have gone extinct resulting from human-caused mortality. About 40 baiji were alive in 1998 but by 2006 none could be found in an extensive survey.
The International Whaling Commission has urged New Zealand and Mexico to take immediate action to prevent the extinction of small marine mammals that are being killed by gillnets set by the fishing industry.
The Commission voiced fears for Maui's dolphins - some of the world's smallest dolphins found only on New Zealand's North Island - and the vaquita, a 1.5-metre porpoise in the Gulf of California.
The Commission's scientific committee estimated that New Zealand had just 55 Maui's dolphins left that are at least one year old and that Mexico had no more than 220 vaquitas, with the number declining despite conservation methods.
In a report at an annual meeting in Panama City, the committee voiced "extreme concern" over the future of the vaquita and urged the immediate elimination of gillnets that could entangle the cetaceans.
In New Zealand, the committee also called for a prompt ban on gillnets and for establishing a safe corridor for Maui's dolphins between North and South islands.
"...conservationist group WWF, said that the commitments by Mexico and New Zealand were not enough.
"Unless these governments remove all gillnets now they will be responsible for the loss of these animals forever," she said.
