The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has published its 12-month finding on a petition to list bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) within Fiordland, New Zealand as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. NMFS has decided that the bottlenose dolphins within Fiordland do not meet the criteria for identification as a distinct population segment. Therefore, these dolphins do not warrant listing, and NMFS does not propose to list these dolphins under the ESA.
Click here to read NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this action.