Taranaki sighting of Maui's dolphin

BY JARED SMITH

One of the world's rarest dolphins has been filmed frolicking with fishermen off a part of the Taranaki coast where the mammal has not been seen for 20 years.

A Maui's dolphin swam up to a recreational fisherman's boat off the Waiongana River, near New Plymouth Airport.

The dolphin is a sub-species of the Hector's dolphin, and only about 100 of them are thought to exist.

"I had to learn how to use my camera in a big hurry," Ray O'Connell, of Waitara, told the Taranaki Daily News.

"We'd just gone out to drop off a couple of craypots, and he came right up. He came looking for us, we didn't go looking for him.

"He was so friendly, I've never seen anything like it. It's the only one I've seen in 40 years out there."

He has named the mammal Naki.

Mr O'Donnell shot the video footage on his cellphone last Wednesday around a kilometre out from shore near the Waiongana River mouth at 4.30pm.

The dolphin played near the boat for about 15 minutes, swimming under the nose, and Mr O'Donnell's son Kayel was even able to lean out and touch the small mammal.

"He was buzzing. I said to him 'you'll probably never see this again in your life'."

Mr O'Donnell returned to shore and contacted a friend who had connections with the Department of Conservation. Marine ranger Callum Lilley and another official arrived and were immediately excited by the clear footage.

"He [Lilley] had a look, passed it to the other DOC officer, who said `hell yeah'," Mr O'Donnell said.

The fisherman then joined the DOC officers on a helicopter scout of the area, however they were not able to spot Naki.

Nonetheless, Mr Lilley said there were unconfirmed reports of a Maui sighting off Fitzroy, and Mr O'Donnell said a friend went out later and thought he spotted the dolphin as well.

"He saw it when he went down the area too, that was a little bit south, closer to Bell Block."

Mr Lilley said the mammal was distinctive because of its size – they grow to only 1.7m – the crescent-shaped mark over its blowhole, and the rounded "Mickey Mouse" style of dorsal fin, which was clearly visible in the footage.

"That footage gave us a positive ID. We have a bit of a checklist for things we go through to confirm sightings."

He said DOC would appreciate information from anyone who sees Naki or something which could be a Maui's dolphin.

The dolphins were at the centre of fierce debate two years ago when the then-Labour government wanted to extend a commercial fishing net ban to Cape Egmont in a bid to protect the mammal.

Fishermen argued that the Maui's dolphin had not been recorded south of Tongaporutu for 30 years, and feared their livelihoods would be jeopardised.

In May last year, Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton relented and left the southernmost reach of the ban at Tongaporutu.

DOC records show the last time a Maui's dolphin was found off Taranaki was in 1989.

- © Fairfax NZ News