harassment
Problems of harassment are on the increase. It is natural that people want to see these beautiful animals close up, and the publicity given to such activities as swimming with dolphins only encourages such behaviour. But the truth is that small cetaceans such as dolphins and porpoises and other species such as basking sharks and sunfish, can be seriously injured or even killed by thoughtless harassment. At the very least their normal activities of feeding and socialising are disrupted. The problems are worse during the holiday season and it is clear that the main offenders are pleasure craft and wildlife sightseeing boats.
Torbay and Teignmouth are often visited by bottlenose and other dolphins and here the large numbers of pleasure craft during the season are a constant source of harassment. There are two main problems; one is the obvious and completely irresponsible driving of speedboats and jet skis at high speed directly around and even over the top of pods of dolphins; and the other is the relentless pursuit of a dolphin group by sightseeing boats so they never have the chance to rest or feed. Lindy writes:
”Whenever the dolphins are in the Bay for any length of time the tourist pleasure boats, which operate mainly out of Paignton and Torquay, band together in order to ’share out‘ the dolphins between them. This means that they arrange their hourly or two hourly excursions to link up, so that they follow the dolphins around the Bay from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. The boats liaise so that - as one lot of boats leaves the dolphins to return to harbour (in order to disgorge and pick up) - a new load of boats arrive to continue to ‘hound’ the pod. This means that the dolphins are never alone, even if there are small young in the group who struggle to keep up”
The toothed whales (the odontocetes which include all dolphins and porpoises), rely on echolocation and sound signals to find prey and communicate with each other. The loud noise generated by boat and jet ski motors confuses and scares them. Startled animals can move erratically and there is the ever-present danger of being cut up or killed by the propellors. Many dolphins seen locally bear scars consistent with injury from propellors. Collisions with boats can be deadly, this porpoise was a likely victim.
Lindy goes on: “The boats were seen going continuously backwards and forwards trying to get the animals to bow ride, people were seen throwing cans and sandwiches at the animals, and the leisure craft tourist operators were seen allowing people to dangle their children over the sides of the boats (sometimes by their feet!) in order to try to touch the dolphins. The dolphins were always surrounded by at least five or six boats at any time”.
There have been many reported cases of harassment, even accounts of boats driving dolphins into shallow water where children are encouraged to enter the water and attempt to physically interact with them. These are coastal stories, but there are equally serious concerns about offshore encounters, where pods of dolphins can be pursued for miles out of sight of observers. If dolphins choose to accompany a ship on its course by bow riding and playing around it, this is an entirely different situation, the dolphins know where the vessel is at all times and they can leave whenever they tire of the experience. Lindy talks about the dolphin code of conduct. You can print out the code of conduct here. Use the ‘Back’ button on your browser to return.