The Department of Conservation has raised concerns with its new minister about endangered dolphins being injured or killed when the global race series SailGP returns to Christchurch.
A departmental memo to Conservation Minister Tama Potaka has been released to 1News under the Official Information Act.
The memo was from the deputy director-general of operations Henry Weston and the director of operations Eastern South Island Jo Macpherson.
Auckland was supposed to host the event in March 2024, but it was moved to Lyttelton/Whakaraupō Harbour due to Wynyard Point being unsuitable for spectators.
On December 12, 2023, Weston and Macpherson told the incoming minister their primary concern was to ensure the event is managed in a way that does not cause harm to marine mammals.
Eleven have died since August, most caught in commercial nets. (Source: 1News)
Lyttelton/Whakaraupō Harbour, including the racecourse and surrounding areas, is within the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary, which is home to the Hector's dolphin. Their threat classification is nationally vulnerable.
"Our primary concern is to ensure the event… is run in a way that is consistent with the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 and Marine Mammals Protection Regulations 1992, which say it is illegal to harm, harass, injure or kill marine mammals.
"The main risk we are trying to avoid is the possibility of Hector's dolphins appearing on the racecourse and the potential for a collision between a dolphin and one of the sharp foils on the very fast but quiet boats.
"Given the televised event has more than 50 million worldwide viewers, a collision leading to dead or injured dolphins is not ideal for New Zealand's tourism image," Weston and Macpherson said.
Incident during 2023 SailGP highlighted
The memo highlighted an incident during the final race in 2023 when two dolphins crossed the boundary into the race zone as racing vessels approached the final marker.
Weston and Macpherson said SailGP officials established a marine mammal management plan (MMMP) with the Department of Conservation (DOC), Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and ChristchurchNZ, which was not followed.
"The SailGP race director did not make the call to cease racing or instruct the boats to drop off the foils, which was a breach of their MMMP.
"The consequences for SailGP breaching the MMMP were not clear cut given the plan was not legally binding.
"We have investigated the incident and were unable to establish that an offence took place… we could not be certain the yachts were within 300m of the dolphins, and there is no evidence to indicate the individual skippers were aware of the dolphins."
No Hector's dolphins were injured or killed during the event.
New marine mammal management plan for March event
The parties are reviewing the 2023 MMMP to make improvements for the 2024 event, which will focus on measures that worked well such as the observer vessels and will reduce less valuable measures like the use of drones.
"The revised plan will also propose changes to how event activities take place to minimise the dolphins' exposure to the activities.
"The new plan includes a 300m buffer around the racecourse, which requires racing to case, or race starts to be put on hold should a dolphin enter this zone.
"It is a legal requirement in the Marine Mammal Protection Regulations 1992 for vessels to travel no faster than 5 knots within 300 metres of a marine mammal."
DOC said that following the 2023 event, it started to explore the feasibility of changing the marine mammal sanctuary rules to better manage the potential effects of activities like SailGP on Hector's dolphins.
"This remains work in progress" and will be "unable to be completed ahead of March 2024".
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