Researchers have voiced their concern over the Department of Conservation taking four months to report on the death of one of the very last Māui dolphins.
The Māui dolphin is a critically endangered subspecies of Hector's dolphins with only 63 left, reporting all incidents is crucial. DOC has a regularly updated online database but Slooten say's they were not surprised when this recent death took four months to be reported. Last year another incident took five months to be reported.
Timely reporting of Māui deaths is important to public confidence in conservation and fisheries management authorities.