Another dolphin found with boat injuries, as Stephan Knoll agrees to meeting for Port River protection plan
THIS is the sickening photo that shows the damage caused by boat strikes to the Port River dolphins — discovered just today, as the State Government finally agrees to meet with local experts to discuss a protection plan.
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ANOTHER Port River dolphin has suffered a sickening injury as a result of a boat strike.
Dolphin watcher Jenni Wyrsta discovered injured dolphin Oriana struggling in an unlimited speed zone of the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary this morning (Monday).
The devastating news comes as Transport Minister Stephan Knoll finally capitulated and contacted Adelaide’s leading dolphin expert, Dr Mike Bossley, to discuss the deadly situation in the Port River.
Dr Bossley said he had spoken to a staff member in Mr Knoll’s office about the possibility of meeting next week to discuss his plan to lower the maximum speed limit from unlimited to 10 knots.
It’s a victory for Messenger Community News’ Protect Our Dolphins campaign after four months of stonewalling from Mr Knoll, who has repeatedly refused to meet with Dr Bossley.
The campaign argues that a lower speed limit would help protect dolphins from speeding vessels in the sanctuary.
Earlier Monday, resident dolphin Oriana was discovered in the North Arm — an unlimited speed zone near Garden Island — with severe cuts near the right side of his dorsal fin and looking gravely ill.
“The injury looks bad and the dolphin looks thin — the two together is not very good,” Ms Wyrsta said.
“Without a doubt it is a boat strike, it has cut right through the blubber.
“He is resting a lot, and is not chasing fish. He has a second dolphin with him that is keeping him company.
“His behaviour is not that of a healthy dolphin, he has been making a few noises (to indicate something is wrong).”
Ms Wyrsta said she did not know if Oriana would survive the injury, as even though she had seen dolphins survive bad boat strikes, they usually appeared healthy.
Ms Wyrsta said “clearly something had to be done” to protect the dolphins from speeding boats.
“This Minister (Stephan Knoll) cannot keep ignoring what is happening down here,” she said.
“This population is not growing — we are losing babies.”
The POD campaign is backed by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Port Adelaide state Labor MP Susan Close, Port Adelaide federal Labor MP Mark Butler and Dr Bossley.
It was launched after the release of an SA Museum report that showed 17 out of 35 dolphins that died in the sanctuary over the past 13 years had been killed by blunt trauma, most likely caused by speeding vessels.
Just this year, three babies are suspected to have died by speeding boats or jet-skis.
Mr Knoll was contacted for comment about the injury to Oriana.
Minister sinks plan to protect dolphins
News of Oriana’s injury came just hours after Messenger Community News reported Mr Knoll was ignoring the voices of thousands of South Australians and refusing to consider a plan to protect the Port River dolphins from being killed by speeding boats.
More than 11,800 supporters have signed a petition — started by the Messenger Community News — calling for a 10-knot maximum speed limit in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary.
But Mr Knoll has repeatedly stonewalled the idea, saying the speed limit would harm the working port — despite the fact the port’s operator, Flinders Port, says a 10-knot limit would have “no effect” on its operations (see story below).
Now, Premier Steven Marshall is being called on to overrule his minister and step in to save the dolphins.
The Protect Our Dolphins, or POD, campaign is backed by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Port Adelaide state Labor MP Susan Close, Port Adelaide federal Labor MP Mark Butler and Dr Mike Bossley, the leading authority on the Port River dolphins.
The campaign began after the release of an SA Museum report that showed 17 out of 35 dolphins that died in the sanctuary over the past 13 years had been killed by blunt trauma, most likely caused by speeding vessels.
So far this year, three calves are suspected to have died because of speeding boats or jetskis. Yet Mr Knoll has ignored at least nine requests to speak to Dr Bossley about the speed limit proposal.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION
“We have pleaded with Minister Knoll to take this seriously, but he keeps making nonsense excuses,” Dr Close said.
“How many more dolphin calves have to die before he will step up and do his job? If the minister won’t protect the Port Adelaide dolphins, the Premier needs to intervene and make him.”
The Port River dolphins are the world’s only wild tail-walkers — a skill learned from Billie, a wild local dolphin who spent time at Marineland in the 1980s.
The Government’s refusal to even consider the proposal to lower the speed limit to protect these dolphins has outraged Adventure Kayak owner Phillip Doddrige, who runs tours of the sanctuary.
Mr Doddrige said he had written to Mr Knoll and Environment Minister David Speirs demanding that they act — not just for the dolphins, but also to protect kayakers and paddle-boarders endangered by speeding boats.
Yet there was still “no action”. He said there had been three incidents of kayakers almost being hit by speeding jet skis last summer.
“We are not going to stop until something has been done,” Mr Doddridge said.
“One of my workers had two jet skiers come flying flat-out and missed him by about a metre — he had to basically capsize to avoid being hit. Is it a sanctuary or not?”
Is it a sanctuary or not? — Phillip Doddrige
The only time Mr Knoll has commented on the proposed new speed limit was in May, just after Messenger Community News launched the POD campaign.
He refused to commit to exploring a 10-knot limit, instead saying that the government needed to “strike the right balance” between boat users and protecting the dolphins — particularly because part of the sanctuary was situated in an open port. Flinders Ports last week confirmed that a 10-knot speed limit would have “no effect” on its operations.
Mr Knoll said a 10-knot speed limit would be “unworkable” as an open speed limit allowed boats, particularly smaller ones, to navigate around each other and maintain a “safe order”. Instead, he said it was about “compliance and enforcement” and “dealing with the extreme minority of people who do the wrong thing on our waters”.
Mr Knoll had also incorrectly stated that the proposal would increase the speed limit in some places, as parts of the sanctuary already had a 4- and 7-knot limit and the plan would increase these parts to 10 knots.
He has been repeatedly advised that the plan would not change those limits, and the 10-knot limit would only apply in areas that currently had no speed restriction in place.
Mr Knoll said the government had delivered “a number of measures” in the sanctuary.
They included “increasing signage, reinstating yellow marker buoys which indicate the speed limit” and appointing seven staff as “authorised officers who add to the regular patrols by marine safety officers to catch people doing the wrong thing and putting these dolphins at risk”.
Mr Knoll’s refusal to meet with Dr Bossley to discuss his plan has infuriated dolphin watchers, who are demanding action to safeguard the mammals.
“The sanctuary is supposed to be a safe place where animals are protected,” said WDC member and conservationist Marianna Boorman, who spends 30 hours a week watching the dolphins and often sees hoons on the water.
“It does not make sense having open speed limits where boats can travel at excessive speeds and change directions erratically in a dolphin sanctuary.”
Mr Butler, who raised the campaign in federal Parliament last month, said the Marshall Government was “shirking their responsibilities to (the) dolphins of the Port”.
“If there is an alternative to the proposition, other than a 10-knot default speed limit, then Minister Knoll, who has access to all of the expert advice, should put something on the table,” Mr Butler said. “The community won’t accept him simply stonewalling against this broadbased campaign.”
Asked if it supported the speed limit push, Paris-based UNESCO said it “could not speculate on the prospects of a hypothetical proposal but it can welcome any measure or initiative to protect marine life”.
Mothers swimming solo a heartbreaking sight
IT’S the devastating reality of the deadly risks facing the Port River dolphins. Grieving mothers Oriana and Ripple have lost two babies each over the past six years.
Both had calves during this season’s Port River baby boom but it ended in tragedy. Dolphin watchers were heartbroken after Ripple’s second calf, Holly, born on Christmas Eve, was found dead in January. An autopsy confirmed she was killed by “blunt trauma impact” which Adelaide’s leading dolphin expert Dr Mike Bossley says could only have resulted from being hit by a boat.
Two months later, Oriana was seen pushing along the body of her second calf, three-week-old CK.
Her corpse was never recovered but she had seemed strong and healthy before her death, with experts concluding that she, too, was likely killed by a boat. Calves are especially vulnerable to boat strikes because they are slow swimmers and spend a lot of time near the surface.
Oriana’s first calf, six-month-old Kalea, disappeared in 2012 but was never found. The body of Ripple’s first calf, Marea, was found in 2015 and toxicology reports revealed a high concentration of chemicals in her system. Conservationist Marianna Boorman said it was devastating to see Ripple and Oriana swimming alone.
“It is a heartbreaking sight to see and even more heartbreaking to think that people and their actions may be responsible for many of these deaths,” she said.
10-knot speed limit will not affect the business of the Port
FLINDERS Ports says the introduction of a 10-knot speed limit to protect the Port River dolphins would have no effect on its operations.
SA’s largest port operator, which owns the Port of Adelaide at Outer Harbor, has said that a call to lower the speed limit in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary to help protect its dolphins would not disrupt its shipping activities.
Messenger Community News’ Protect Our Dolphin (POD) campaign has called for a maximum 10-knot limit in the sanctuary, where boats can travel at unlimited speeds in some areas.
Transport Minister Stephan Knoll has dismissed the notion, saying the area is home to a working port which would be affected by the speed change.
But a Flinders Ports spokeswoman said: “A 10-knot speed limit within the river … does not affect operations.”
The POD campaign, with the support of Adelaide dolphin expert Dr Mike Bossley, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, has been running since April.
It calls for the introduction of a maximum 10-knot speed limit in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary and follows the deaths of four out of seven calves born in the Port River this season.
An autopsy confirmed a two-week-old calf, Holly — the only body to be recovered — was killed by a boat in January.