We’ve done over 27 flights and found more than 13 Māui Dolphins!

MAUI63 have now completed over 42 hours of flying with our CW25 drone across more than 27 flights over the West Coast of the North Island, which is key Māui Dolphin Habitat. It’s been a huge effort from the team, and we have learned a lot throughout the process.

You can see the flight paths marked in various different colours on the map image below. The drone has been flown at an altitude of 120 metres and usually at a speed of about 85km/h. We focused our attention within a 15km radius from launch sites.

The results? We’ve detected more than 13 Māui dolphins, with most of those sightings happening during March 2022 and May 2023 over Karioitahi and Hamiltons Gap. These detections are incredibly valuable – not just for mapping where dolphins are found, but for informing future protection and research efforts. Every flight gives us more insight into where Māui dolphins are spending time. And every detection counts.

We're also pretty impressed by the technology the team developed ;)