Dear all,
Work over the past 8 years has identified that
boat-dolphin interactions were significantly impacting the bottlenose dolphin
population living in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. The population has also
suffered a drastic abundance decline over the past 5-7 years, numbering now only
56 individuals (~18% decline over that period).
In response to the identification of these threats
the New Zealand Department of Conservation has now put out a threat management
discussion paper which higlights the different options it is considering to
mitigate the identified threats. This document is opened for public comments
(DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 5) and can be found at:
DoC is considering 3 categories of management
options (and combinations of those):
1. the creation of no-boat zones and different use
zones (the one we advised: Lusseau & Higham 2004)
2. reducing boat
traffic
3. improving behaviour around dolphins
Please register your views by
emailing your comments on the discussion paper, and selecting the options you
find most appropriate, to Carrie Williams (cwilliams@doc.govt.nz). Alternatively
you can also mail your comments:
FREE POST 62487
Director-General of Conservation
C/o Carrie Williams
Department of Conservation
PO Box 743
Invercargill 9840
New Zealand
A feedback form on which you can template your
submission can be found at the end of the discussion document.
References:
Lusseau D. & Higham J.E.S. 2004. Managing the impacts of dolphin-based
tourism through the definition of critical habitats: the case of Doubtful Sound,
New Zealand
Tourism Management 25(6): 657-667 (a copy of it can be
found at:
http://lusseau.org/publications.html)
thank you,
David
David Lusseau, PhD
Killam postdoctoral
fellow
Dalhousie University
Department of
Biology
1355 Oxford Street
Halifax, B3H 4J1, Canada
_____________________________________________________
Academic editor
for PLoS ONE- a revolution in scientific publication
Learn more at http://www.plosone.org
_____________________________________________________