Dolphin research cost

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 12

Dolphin research cost

The Departmeent of Conservation research budget of $130,000 covers far more than aerial surveys of Hector’s dolphin. The principal conservation officer, marine mammals, Mr M. F. Donoghue, says this in reply to a correspondent. In a letter published on February 17, Mr B. R. Walker, chairman of the Set-net Action Group (S.N.A.G.), said that information regarding the set-net ban could only be obtained from the department afer paying for photocopying, yet the department could spend $130,000 on. an aerial survey of the dolphin population. Mr Donoghue responds: "It seems like only last month that Bernard Walker, of S.N.A.G., was complaining that the Minister of Conservation’s decision to establish the Banks Peninsula marine mammal sanctuary was based on insufficient research, and now he is complaining about a misallocation of taxpayers’ money when the Department of Conservation initiates the very research programme he was demanding. The facts of the matter are as follows:

• The $36 charged, to S.N.A.G.

covered two hours of staff time and over 90 pages of photocopying and D.O.C. is obliged to recover those charges under the same law through which S.N.A.G. sought the documents. • The aerial surveys have not been designed to measure absolute numbers of dolphins. They are being flown primarily as trend counts — to estimate whether the dolphin population is increasing or decreasing. Trend counts can be carried out with considerable confidence that accurate trends in numbers can be assessed within a few years. The estimation of actual numbers of dolphins is a far more complex scientific problem, and not of such immediate concern. The department does not believe that the current rate of drownings of Hector’s dolphin would be acceptable even if the population were twice the estimated numbers. The scientific design of the aerial surveys therefore does not require the extensive search area implied by Mr Walker. Regularly repeated surveys of five-mile transect lines around Banks Peninsula will provide the information from which reliable conclusions can be

drawn. • The research programme budget of $130,000 covers far more than aerial surveys — continuing photo-identification and behavioural studies, careful examination of dead dolphins, and D.N.A.-fingerprinting will all be covered within that budget estimate. The D.N.A.-fingerprint-ing will provide valuable information on the degree of intermixing of the different populations of Hector’s dolphin in the Canterbury area.

• D.O.C. will not be the only contributor to the research programme. Further sponsorship and support for the programme will be required — an opportunity perhaps for S.N.A.G. to invest in some scientifically-based research to test the department’s current assumption about the Banks Peninsula population of Hector’s dolphin.

“The department has already issued an invitation to S.N.A.G. to nominate observers to the aerial survey flights. The entire research programme will be open to public scrutiny so that everyone can have confidence in its progress.” -t - '