New Zealand Dolphins

This category brings together a developing research series on the population crisis and conservation of Hector’s and Māui dolphins in New Zealand. The studies examine fisheries bycatch, demographic vulnerability, infectious disease, habitat pressures, and chemical contamination as competing or interacting explanations, while reconstructing the environmental context of Paritutu/New Plymouth. They combine critical bibliography, analysis of newly available technical reports, review of demographic modelling and conservation frameworks, and examination of scientific non-recognition and evidentiary gaps. The series does not present chemical pollution as a proven primary cause; its purpose is to support a broader, transparent, and methodologically rigorous research strategy for dolphin conservation.