14110 (2025). Hon Rachel Brooking to the Minister of Conservation

14110 (2025). Hon Rachel Brooking to the Minister of Conservation: Has there been consideration of alternative methods, such as water sampling, for obtaining genetic information on Hector’s dolphins instead of biopsy sampling, and if so, why was biopsy sampling preferred?

Hon Tama Potaka: I am informed by the Department of Conservation that collection of environmental DNA from water samples was considered, but that the drawbacks of this method meant it was not considered feasible. This is because environmental DNA from water samples does not reliably allow collection of individual-level genomic information required to understand how isolated, or not, the dolphins in Otago are. In contrast, biopsy sampling reliably provides such individual level data.