Project Jonah

Description

Project Jonah is a New Zealand registered charity that works to protect marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and seals.

It began in 1974 as an anti-whaling campaign, helped push New Zealand back into the International Whaling Commission in 1976, and helped develop the Marine Mammal Protection Act 1978. It designed one of the first whale flotation rescue devices and has shared this technology worldwide. It is run mostly by volunteers, with only a small number of full-time staff.

It trains volunteer Marine Mammal Medics who respond to marine mammal strandings across New Zealand, and it presents education programmes to schools and community groups. Its work covers rescue, direct action and advocacy, including pushing for stronger laws and holding governments and industry to account. It opposes the capture, confinement or killing of marine mammals for commercial, sport or entertainment purposes.

The organisation is opposed to keeping marine mammals in captivity outside genuine welfare or conservation programmes aimed at rehabilitation and release. It accepts that some indigenous communities may take marine mammals for survival, and advocates humane methods when this happens. Project Jonah works throughout New Zealand and marked fifty years of operation in 2024.