Dolphin firm wins wider viewing area

A Kaikoura tourism company has won a long battle to extend its dolphin-watching area.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) has allowed Encounter Kaikoura to extend its area of operation for watching and swimming with dolphins, ending more than five years of deadlock with the company.

As part of the agreement, the dusky dolphins the company follows are being guaranteed a two-hour lunch break without tourist activity during the high season.

The new rules mean Encounter will now be able to work all its boats between the Clarence and the Waiau Rivers.

Until now only one of the company's three permits allowed it to operate south of the Conway River.

Company owner Dennis Buurman said he was relieved the fight was over.

"It is a like a huge weight off your shoulders ... It was just a nightmare trying to operate under those conditions, because the dolphins move so much."

The change follows a major review of the impact of dusky dolphin watching in the region.

A three-year study found behavioural changes in the presence of boats, but DOC spokesman for Nelson and Marlborough, Neil Clifton, said he did not believe the dolphins were being pushed south by tourism activity.

"Based on the research, we are satisfied that any impact is going to be minimal," he said. "I am confident in the research that has been done over a three-year period, and the research was peer-reviewed."

Clifton said a 10-year moratorium on permits in 1999 had prevented change until now.

DOC has introduced other measures for the dolphins' welfare. No new permits will be issued for five years, boats will be limited to four approaches per trip, and there will be a mandatory break between 11.30am and 1.30pm to coincide with the dolphin's main resting time.

However, operators will be able to take out up to 18 swimmers per boat, an increase from the previous limit of 13.

The research showed the number of approaches to dolphin pods had more of an impact than the number of swimmers in the water at any one time, said Clifton.

Only Encounter Kaikoura and Whale Watch hold permits to view or swim with dolphins from boats around Kaikoura.

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