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Environmentalists are threatening to call a boycott of New Zealand's billion-dollar seafood export industry unless the government boosts efforts to save the world's rarest dolphin, which has dwindled to a population of 50.
The Maui's dolphin, the world's smallest and scarcest sub-species, is found only in shallow waters off the North Island of New Zealand.
It is listed as critically endangered and scientists from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have called for urgent action to prevent extinction, including a ban on fishing in the dolphin's habitat.
While the government has taken some steps, environmentalists say it has not gone far enough due to fears of damaging the fishing industry, making a boycott the only way they can get their message across.
"It would have been simpler and easier and cheaper to sort this out when the international scientific community raised the issue with New Zealand and said it needed to take action urgently."
New Zealand's seafood exports are worth more than NZ$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) a year, according to official data, with China, Australia the European Union and United States the largest markets.
"The last thing we want to do is cause grief to the people of New Zealand or even the New Zealand fishing industry, but the situation is desperate," the Adelaide-based head of Whale and Dolphin Conservation Australasia Mike Bossley told AFP.
He said a boycott would encourage customers not to buy New Zealand seafood and call on retailers not to stock the product.
