- Threatened species – along with advocating for sea lions, seabirds and sharks, this work area covers WWF-New Zealand’s efforts to help protect Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins. The focus is on campaigning, policy development, and supporting research and community-initiated conservation efforts.
- Antarctic and the Southern Ocean – this programme aims to ensure the ecosystem’s integrity is preserved through good management and formal protection, and that seabirds and other southern ocean marine wildlife are protected.
- Sustainable fisheries – this work covers reducing by-catch and increasing market incentives to encourage sustainable fishing practices. The latter includes managing WWF-New Zealand’s involvement with the international Marine Stewardship Council, which recognises and rewards sustainable fishing.
- Marine protected areas – this work largely focuses on protecting and preserving New Zealand’s marine environment, including implementing a network of no-take marine protected areas. It includes the Auckland Marine Matters Programme, and compiling important scientific data to inform decision makers and the community about the marine environment and New Zealand’s marine biodiversity.
She brings a dual zoology and pyschology degree to the role, along with a post-graduate diploma in marine science from the University of Otago. For the latter, Rebecca researched biometrics in Hector’s dolphins – studying how the bones of these animals grow and develop.
Working to protect Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins is a huge challenge, but brings rewards. 2008 was a monumental year, she says. Not only was it part of the extended Year of the Dolphin, it marked a major increase in the protection offered to the dolphins by the New Zealand Government.
‘Public support for full protection for Hector’s and Maui’s is overwhelming,’ Rebecca says. ‘We received 32,500 signatures on a petition, and Colmar Brunton research confirmed that 83% of New Zealanders want the dolphins fully protected.
‘That tells us the dolphins are important to the whole country, not just to us, and that makes our work even more compelling.’
For the future, Rebecca has her hopeful sights set on the dolphins’ recovery, not just a halt to their decline. ‘Current protection measures are based very much on compromise and don’t ensure the dolphins will recover. Population recovery should be our ultimate goal.
‘For that to happen,’ she says, ‘the fishing industry will need to step up and address the serious dolphin by-catch issue as a matter of priority. The New Zealand public have made it clear this is what they want.’
Rebecca also hopes the New Zealand public will continue to support dolphin conservation, with communities taking responsibility and taking action when they can make a difference to the Maui’s and Hector’s survival.
