Dolphin tags given minister's backing

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

Conservation Minister Chris Carter is backing satellite tagging of endangered dolphins, despite conservationists' demands for him to revoke his department's permit for the work.

DoC Auckland is expected to begin tagging three South Island Hector's dolphins in the next two weeks after being granted a permit by southern general manager John Cumberpatch.

The plan involves using four pins to attach satellite-linked tags to the dorsal fin to find out if the tags can be used on the Hector's close relative, the critically endangered North Island Maui's dolphin.

Maui's are the smallest and among the rarest dolphins in the world, confined to the west coast of the North Island. Best estimates put the population between 100-150, possibly less, while Hector's are thought to number around 7000.

DoC wants to find out how useful information from the trial could be if it tags were used on Maui's. The trial will also be used to calculate what risk the tags, about the size of two matchboxes, could be to the more endangered animals.

But conservation lobby group Forest and Bird calls the decision to go ahead "outrageous" and the science behind the trial flawed.

"The application by DoC Auckland was heavy on spin and misrepresents the views of groups opposed to the trial," said spokesman Kevin Hackwell.

The long-term welfare of the animals could not be guaranteed because the department had no plan to recapture tagged dolphins, relying instead on the eventual corrosion of the tags.

Questions remained over whether the tags would make it more difficult for the animals to escape predators or cause injury to their fins.

Information from the trial would not be enough to decide whether to use them on Maui's, he said.

But yesterday Mr Carter backed the trial.

"Only three male specimens will be used in the Hector's trial, we will evaluate what the risk is and if I feel that Maui's dolphin [would be] at risk, we certainly won't be doing it," he said.

He acknowledged DoC scientists were divided on the tagging issue.

"I accept there are divided opinions on this but equally there are people who passionately believe this will help us with conservation."

Auckland DoC head Rob McCallum likened attaching the tags to "having your ears pierced" and although any capture and handling of dolphins posed a risk, he believed it was "negligible".

"I wouldn't want to be in the position, if Maui's were to become extinct, that it was because of something we didn't know," he said.

Like Hector's dolphins, Maui's can usually be found relatively close to shore, the major reason behind a set net ban imposed last year along the North Island west coast, from Dargaville to New Plymouth.