Conservation groups are calling out New Zealand’s Fisheries Minister for continuing to deny the existence of Māui dolphins and describing them instead as a “mythological creature”.
During Question Time in The House today, Shane Jones also referred to the declining and critically endangered population of Māui dolphins as “mythical Hector’s dolphins”.
That comes after Jones’ appearance on Q+A earlier this year when he also insisted that there is "no such thing” as the Māui dolphin.
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation describes Māui dolphins as one of the rarest and smallest dolphins in the world. Despite resembling Hector’s dolphins, Māui dolphins are physically, geographically and genetically different.
The Māui dolphin has a conservation status of nationally critical and it’s estimated that only between 47 and 69 individuals over the age of one year remain.
Māui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders and WWF-New Zealand have called on Jones to acknowledge the precarious state of this taonga species, which is unique to Aotearoa and exists nowhere else on Earth.
“It is wild to me that a senior government minister – the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries no less – can continue to express a wholesale denial of science, yet somehow still maintain the confidence of the Prime Minister.
“Denying the existence of this critically endangered species is not only ignorant of science but also his Government’s own efforts to prevent its extinction,” says WWF-New Zealand’s CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb.
Kingdon-Bebb pointed to the Government’s Hector’s and Māui Dolphin Threat Management Plan, for which the Minister of Conservation and Minister of Oceans and Fisheries have shared statutory responsibility.
Māui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders Chair Christine Rose agrees, saying it’s time the Minister started acknowledging the facts.
“Shane Jones operates in the world of myths, insisting the seafood industry is benign with no detrimental impact on nature.
“Jones is quite clearly a science-denier. We look forward to his antiquated attitudes being consigned to history instead of the Māui dolphin.”
Rose says we are in risk of losing this precious species - as well as Hector’s dolphins - if urgent action isn’t taken.
New Zealand’s Māui and Hector’s dolphin Incident Database shows - where cause of death is known - the majority of deaths are caused by entanglement in fishing nets.
“The Minister might deny Māui dolphins’ existence but the US Court of International Trade ruled last month that the New Zealand Government isn’t doing enough to protect them. The Minister is not serving New Zealanders or the fishing industry he claims to champion, by denying this reality.”
In a light-hearted way to remind Shane Jones that Māui dolphins are indeed real, WWF-New Zealand has symbolically adopted a dolphin on his behalf and will be sending an adoption certificate and Māui dolphin plushie to his parliamentary office.
All New Zealanders are welcome to join in this call by adopting a dolphin of their own on the Minister’s behalf.