I was recently reading the above article on dolphin behaviours around tourist operators & harbours in Scotland. It was interesting to hear the research views on this. From personal experience I have found it’s not the boat, but the inhabitants of the boat that pose the greatest threat to dolphins. When they are treated as curiosities. “I wonder what happens if I do this”, “I wonder what happens when I do that”. It would make your toes curl if you knew half of the terrible atrocities that I have seen humans inflict on dolphins.

In regards to tourist boat licences, that has to be regulated. You can’t have every tom dick & harry out there. I think the operators should be tested on dolphin behaviours & a little environmental management wouldn’t hurt. Boating skills, rescue & first aid are a must have. Every trade needs their operators to be experienced in their craft.

Dolphins usually like boats, and I haven’t seen a behavioural difference between pregnant, adult or young dolphins. Whether they are recreational or occupational operators, they shouldn’t chase dolphins (or whales), but there is nothing wrong with passive interaction (this is on the dolphins terms). Feeding dolphins… a BIG wrong (feeding any wild animal a big wrong in my opinion). Dolphins stealing baits…. if they’re hungry & it’s edible, they’ll eat it. We’ve already interupted their food chain, so expect some consequences from that.

However, when it comes to harbours I think this comes into an entirely new ball game. Big ships won’t upset dolphins normally. They love surfing the bow waves. There will always be accidents & that again is one of the impacts we as humans have on wild species. However…. the problem with these big ships are the ballast waters. They carry all kinds of organisms that are transported from various parts of the world.

“Each year around 150 million tonnes of ships’ ballast water is discharged into Australian ports by 10,000 ship visits from some 600 overseas ports. Most shipping into Australia arrives from the northern Pacific area, with the greatest volume of ballast water being discharged by bulk carriers. The environmental and economic impacts of a marine pest introduction via ships’ ballast water have been recognised and can be significant.” Read more ….. [Australian Dept of Infrastructure & Transport]

I think these researchers (everywhere) need to go back to the drawing board & spend a little more time on this before recommending anything to any authority.