NZ species in world red list

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

A global endangered species list has 231 New Zealand species on it and one of the country's dolphins has made the list for the first time.

The World Conservation Union's (IUCN) 2000 red list of threatened species lists the North Island hector's dolphin subspecies as critically endangered and the South Island hector's dolphin as endangered.

It is the first time the dolphin has made the list, which was last compiled four years ago.

Hector's dolphins are often trapped and drowned in gill nets.

Last month, the Seafood Industry Council outlined a series of steps it had decided to take to help to prevent dolphin deaths, including new controlled and closed fishing areas and sonic warning devices on gill nets.

Another big entry on this year's list was the albatross. Sixteen species of albatross are listed as threatened, compared with three in 1996.

Longline fishing is the biggest threat to the albatross, which mate for life and often breed only once every two years, says New Zealand's Department of Conservation species protection officer, Janice Molloy.

New Zealand has 42 plants, 93 birds, two frogs, 37 mammals and 16 reptiles classed as endangered or critically endangered on the red list.

They range from the native parrot the kakapo to the Hochstetter's frog.

Globally, the number of critically endangered mammals increased from 169 to 180 and birds from 168 to 182, according to the IUCN.

A total of 11,046 species of plants are listed as threatened.

One in four mammals on the planet is listed as threatened, as are one in eight birds.

The total number of threatened animals increased from 5205 to 5435. In the past 500 years, 816 species have become officially extinct in the wild.

Since 1800, 103 bird species have disappeared.

Indonesia, India, Brazil and China top the list of countries with the biggest number of most threatened mammals and birds.

South and Central America, Central and West Africa and Southeast Asia have the highest rate of threatened and endangered plants.

The Switzerland-based IUCN is a network of the world's conservation groups which works with countries advising on conservation strategies for threatened species.

There are about 1.75 million known species of plants, animals, reptiles, birds and invertebrates on Earth.

The IUCN says that with many more species yet to be discovered, the red list only scratches the surface in assessing the extinction risk.