New Zealand bans swimming with bottlenose dolphins after numbers plunge
Conservation research shows humans are ‘loving the dolphins too much’ in Bay of Islands region
Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin
@EleanorAingeRoy
Tue 27 Aug 2019 23.36 EDT Last modified on Wed 28 Aug 2019 01.49 EDT
Tour operators in New Zealand may interact with bottlenose dolphins for 20 minutes only.
Photograph: Monash University/EPA
The New Zealand government has banned tourists from swimming with bottlenose dolphins in an attempt to save the struggling species.
According to the department of conservation [DoC] research has shown that humans were “loving the dolphins too much” and human interaction was “having a signifiant impact on the population’s resting and feeding behaviour”.
The ban on swimming with bottlenose dolphins applies to tour operators in the North Island’s Bay of Islands region, which is popular with tourists for its warm climate and golden beaches. Other dolphin tours that interact with different species of dolphin in other parts of the country are still permitted.
Bottlenose dolphins prefer to swim in coastal regions, making them vulnerable to human activity, and their numbers in the Bay of Islands have declined by 66% since 1990, according to DoC.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/28/new-zealand-bans-swimming-with-bottlenose-dolphins-after-numbers-plunge
