The world’s smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hector’s dolphin has distinct facial markings, a short and stocky body, and a round dorsal fin shaped like an ear. Found only in the waters of New Zealand’s South Island, Hector’s dolphins are listed as Endangered, with numbers estimated at fewer than 7,500, while a North Island subspecies – known as Maui’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) – has a population of likely fewer than 100 individuals and is considered Critically Endangered. Maui’s dolphins have declined due to inshore fishing where they are often inadvertently caught in bottom-set gill nets made out of lightweight monofilament fibres that are hard to detect when the dolphins are chasing fish or moving around without echolocation. Hector’s dolphins are actively attracted to trawling vessels and are often seen following them and even diving down into nets to pick off fish. By-catch accounts for more than 95 percent of human-caused deaths in Maui’s dolphins. The first marine protected area (MPA) for Hector’s dolphin was set up at Banks Peninsula, off the east coast of the South Island, in 1988. In 2008, gill-netting was banned within four nautical miles of the east and south coasts of the South Island, and restrictions on mining and seismic acoustic surveys have also been enacted to protect them.