This map shows the area of Māui and Hector’s habitat (in red), and the area of protection from set or trawl nets in green.Māui and Hector’s dolphins grow to only around 1.4m long, and weigh around 47kg. The males are smaller and shorter than the females. Newborn calves weigh only 8-10kg and are 60-75cm long.
Māui and Hector’s dolphins are slow to breed. They have their first calf at about 5-9 years of age. They don’t breed often - every 2-4 years, and only live to 20-25 years old. That means now that their numbers have been reduced, it will take a long time for their populations to recover.
You can tell Māui and Hector’s apart from other dolphins because of their small size, grey bodies, and rounded black dorsal and pectoral fins.
They can often be seen close to shore, surfing waves, feeding and sometimes leaping, at many coastal places around the New Zealand coast, especially in the South Island.
Māui and Hector’s are found around the coasts of New Zealand, though fishing deaths have reduced their range. Now they are mostly concentrated around the South Island West Coast and around Canterbury. Other populations have been so impacted by fishing that the sub-groups or dolphin hapū, are separated from each other and face localised extinction. Areas where Māui/Hector’s were previously commonly seen, such as the east coast of the North Island, have no protection at all.
The Government has set ‘Fisheries Related Mortality Limits’ that specify a number of dolphins that are allowed to be killed by the fishing industry every year.
The FRMLs are set on questionable population estimates and assumptions about how many can be sustainably killed.
When Māui and Hector’s encounter fishing nets, they are unable to see them. They get trapped and drown. Sometimes whole pods die.
Every dolphin life matters. No dolphin should drown in a fishing net.
This map shows the areas where different numbers of dolphins are allowed to be killed. These are known as ‘Fisheries Related Mortality Limits’, and show almost 50 Hector’s dolphins are allowed to be killed by the fishing industry in just the East and South Coasts of the South Island, every year. Unlimited numbers of dolphins can be killed in other parts of the South Island.