Encounter Kaikoura boats get waiver for tours during dolphin downtime

Wednesday, 28 December 2016

A Kaikoura dolphin-spotting operator has been granted a special exemption to work during the mammals' designated 'rest period'.

The Department of Conservation issued the waiver to Encounter Kaikoura last month because the raised seabed at South Bay meant the company could no longer launch its larger boats at low tide.

The exemption means if high tide falls during the dolphins' downtime, between 11.30am and 1.30pm daily, the tourism operator can take a tour out.

Encounter Kaikoura general manager Dennis Buurman said some residents had complained about his boats being on the water at that time because they did not know about the exemption.

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Buurman said he was grateful to DOC because the temporary permit allowed the Dolphin Encounter side of his business to keep going.

'We would have just about been shut down,' he said.

The compulsory 'rest period' was introduced by DOC in 2009, to give dolphins a break from tourist activity during their main resting time.

However, following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on November 14, parts of Kaikoura's South Bay had risen by a metre.

'In order to work around the low tides, and the fact that the seabed has risen so much, we are forced to adapt,' Buurman said.

The waiver from DOC said the limitations placed on Dolphin Encounters by the tides provided the dolphins with a much longer rest period overall.

Even with the exemption, Encounter Kaikoura could not operate its larger 14-metre boats as often as it normally would, Buurman said.

'We can't operate our normal timetable. We're bound by what we can do in terms of having enough water to get our boats out.'

The business had a smaller 9.5m boat which could be launched more easily.

The exemption, granted on November 29, would expire on February 28, or when the marina was deepened.

Encounter Kaikoura usually ran dolphin tours three times a day in summer, but were only available now by prior arrangement.

'There's still people coming to Kaikoura, obviously nowhere near as many as we would normally have,' Buurman said.

There had been no unusual dolphin behaviour after the quake, with a pod of 300 dusky dolphins arriving in the area and staying there.

The dolphins were offshore, so changes to the coast only affected Dolphin Encounter boats when they launched.

Later in the summer the dolphins would move closer to shore, and the company would have to be careful negotiating the rocky coastline.

In January, work would begin to deepen South Bay marina, which would involve cutting into rock, and could take up to six months to complete.

Government funding of $5 million had been granted for the project.

'They have to take the seabed down to the depth that it was prior to the earthquake,' Buurman said.

Kaikoura Fishing Charters owner Eion Fitzgibbon said he could not launch his boat at low tide straight after the earthquake, but the harbour had since been 'dug out' enough to get his boat in and out.

Boats operated by Whale Watch Kaikoura were largely stranded at the marina because of the reduced water depth.