Get Maui's dolphins to the IWC!

Barbara Maas is organizing this fundraiser.

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Maui's dolphins are the world's smallest and rarest marine dolphin. They live only off the west coast of New Zealand's North Island where gillnetting and trawling is killing them faster than they can breed. There are now just 55 Maui's dolphins left in the world. Saving them is a race against time, but the New Zealand government is refusing to protect Maui's dolphins against further decline.

The dolphins can only cope with one death due to humans every 10"23 years, but around five Maui's dolphins die in fishing nets each year. That's 75 times more than the sustainable limit. Unless things change, New Zealand's Hobbit of the Sea will become extinct by 2030. It would be the first extinction of a marine whale, dolphin or porpoise due to man "“ something even the whalers haven't quite managed. We can't allow this to happen!

Now here's the good news! I have been invited to give a formal talk about the dolphin's plight at the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which meets in Korea early next month. The Committee brings together 160 of the foremost whale and dolphin experts from around the world, so this is a big opportunity and a bit of an honour.

The problem is that it'll cost quite a bit to get me there and there isn't a lot of time. Thanks to a generous pledge of US$1,000 by the Cetacean Society International we've made a start, but we need another US$3,000 to make it happen.

Please help to get me and my talk about how he last Maui's dolphins can be saved to the International Whaling Commission by making a donation today. All donations go directly into NABU International's Maui's dolphin charity account.

Maui's dolphins can't afford to miss this opportunity, and every Dollar, Euro or Pound will get us a step closer.

Thank you!

Dr Barbara Maas
Head of International Species Conservation
NABU International - Foundation for Nature