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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-05 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:08): I rise to speak about the Port Adelaide dolphin sanctuary. Members may not be aware that before entering politics, indeed, before moving to Semaphore 17 years ago, I was involved in an organisation led by Dr Mike Bossley that proposed the dolphin sanctuary. We were delighted when the incoming minister for the environment, John Hill, created the sanctuary by law in 2005. The Port Adelaide dolphin sanctuary is one of the few places in the world where a wild dolphin population lives in such close proximity to an urban centre.

Much has improved in the time since the sanctuary was established for the resident dolphin population and for the Port Adelaide environment generally, but it is far from being in the state that we should be aiming for, with clear air, clean water and plenty of vegetation. Much of the responsibility for the vegetation of course belongs to the council. I will continue to work on them to improve the amenity of the area, but for the dolphins we have a particular issue about boat speeds right now.

Speeding boats are the biggest single cause of dolphin deaths in the sanctuary: 17 out of 35 dolphin deaths in the last 13 years were caused by boat strike. Four out of seven dolphin calves born this season, the biggest baby boom in 11 years, have died. Only one of these calves has been retrieved and an autopsy revealed its death was caused by a speeding boat. Dolphin calves are particularly vulnerable because they swim close to the surface. It was heartbreaking to see the mother, Oriana, push her dead calf, CK, around for a week—part of the dolphin's grieving process. This was the second time that Oriana lost a baby.

I am pleased to inform the chamber that the Portside Weekly Messenger dolphin petition, POD (Protect Our Dolphins), started one month ago on 24 April and already has almost 12,000 signatures. The petition calls on the state government to introduce a blanket limit of 10 knots throughout the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary. The current speed limit ranges from four knots to unlimited. The campaign has the support of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, headed by Dr Mike Bossley. Dr Bossley says that a 10-knot speed limit would give dolphins enough time to get out of the way. People on jet skis, speeding and doing doughnuts are also creating dangers for dolphins.

Stephan Knoll has rejected calls to declare a blanket speed limit for no better reason than he says that the current mixed limit allows boats to navigate around each other and that a change would be unworkable. He has said that it is about getting to the root cause of the issue. We know what the root cause is. The SA Museum report tells us that the root cause of dolphin deaths in our river is speeding boats.

Minister Knoll's refusal to protect our newborn dolphins means our dolphin sanctuary is a sanctuary in name only. I understand that the environment minister, David Speirs, has now agreed to meet with Dr Bossley about this matter, and I ask him to take their concerns seriously, and to respond to the issues and to work with his colleague.

There is also the not-negligible concern for human safety around Garden Island and the Barker Inlet. The number of kayaks, particularly on weekends, has increased dramatically in recent times, and the risk posed by speeding boats and jet skis around there to dolphins and to people makes not imposing a safe speed limit a risky proposition. I urge anyone who cares about the safety of our world dolphin population to sign the Messenger's POD (Protect Our Dolphins) campaign, and they can do that at change.org Protect Our Dolphins.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank journalist Ashleigh Pisani, and the Messenger, for their hard work and commitment to this important campaign. It is great to see a local paper taking leadership like this. I would like to thank Dr Mike Bossley and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and of course the many local volunteers and residents who care for our Dolphins, and every person who has signed the petition so far.

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