Hector's dolphin

Hector 's dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori )

The Hector 's dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori ), with a length of up to 1.50 meters, the smallest representative of the whales. He belongs to the genre of black and white dolphins ( Cephalorhynchus ) and is distributed exclusively in the waters around New Zealand.

Features

The maximum 1.50 meter long dolphin reaches a weight of 40 to 60 kilograms. He has a very short, barely perceptible externally snout and a rounded dorsal fin. The Fluke ends are pointed, their two rear edges are (negative) rounded inward. The body of the animal is gray in color, and it is a drawing of different shades of color. The forehead is marked by black stripes and the muzzle is at their head also black. The throat and neck are white. From the dark gray pectoral fins ( flippers ) to the eyes, a dark gray spot also attracts. The belly is white and a darker stripe runs down from the dorsal fin. The rest of the flanks is light gray.

At birth, the Hector 's dolphin weighs about 9 kilograms and he has a life expectancy of about 20 years.

It is a sociable dolphin who lives in groups of two to eight animals. They are very active and playful, and they ride waves and play with algae. In the frequent jumps individual animals end up like on the page, producing a loud and splashing water surge.

Dissemination

The Hector 's dolphin is found only in the waters around New Zealand. Two populations are known, residing respectively east and west of the South Island. It is assumed that these populations are separated by the deeper regions of the Cook Strait and on the south-western end of the island. The animals do not cross these depths or only very rarely. Remove obviously not much further than 10 kilometers from the coast.

On the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand living with the Maui 's dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori maui ) is a subspecies with a total of probably only 100 individuals.

Threat and protection

The total population of the dolphins was estimated in the 1980s to about 3,500, more recent estimates are only 2000-2500 animals from. The main threat to animals proceeds from the fishermen's nets in which they can become entangled and drown. This risk is being blamed for the sharp decline of the animals. 1988, a range of the coastal region of the Banks Peninsula was declared a protected area and prohibited fishing in the area. By this measure, although the decline was halted, an increase in the population but so far could not be found.

In May 2004, the Department of Conservation of New Zealand developed a tracking system for whales and tested it on three animals of Hector 's dolphin. It should be used in the future, especially for locating the extremely endangered animals from Maui.

According to NABU the protective measures were not enough in 2011 to prevent extinction of the rarest marine dolphin in the world. These research results of New Zealand scientists placed the 2011 close. Since the introduction of gillnets and trawl fisheries in the seventies the number of Hector 's dolphins has dropped from 29,000 to less than 8,000 animals. From its subspecies, the Maui dolphins, today there are less than 100 animals. On the east coast of New Zealand each year die 23 Hector 's dolphins as bycatch in commercial fishing nets. That is 20 times more than can tolerate their population according to the study. Nationwide is currently only a fraction of the habitat of dolphins protected from fishing. Would the protective measures tightened immediately, the stock of Hector 's dolphins could grow to about 15,000 individuals within the next 50 years, reports the NABU. Scientists and conservationists are calling for this since 1990. Yet despite overwhelming evidence that Hector 's dolphins die faster in fishing nets as they can propagate, the New Zealand government in 2011 bent again to pressure from the fishing industry and opened sensitive areas for commercial fishing with gillnets.

In addition to industrial fishing and recreational fishing are a threat to the remaining Hector's and Maui 's dolphins. Since there are tens of thousands of private gill nets, which can each be up to 60 meters long, no one knows how many dolphins get caught in them. Taken together with the losses by commercial trawling is to be assumed by NABU information that the number of dead on the east coast by fishing Hector 's dolphins is 2011 total at 46. An annual loss of this magnitude would wipe out more than half of the remaining Hector 's dolphins in 2050.