A leading dolphin expert has said she "couldn't quite believe" SailGP boss Sir Russell Coutts could claim Hector's dolphin weren't an endangered species.
Coutts called Otago University professor Liz Slooten out by name in a fiery statement this morning in which he disputed the dolphin's conservation status.
"It’s been my experience throughout my long career connected with the ocean, that dolphins are extremely intelligent mammals and are inherently aware of boats around them.
Chief Executive Sir Russell Coutts lashes out at officials even as the races were getting underway. (Source: 1News)
"The Hector's dolphin is not an endangered species as Otago university professor Liz Slooten recently claimed," he said.
Slooten has been researching marine mammals for more than 30 years and told 1News this evening she hoped Coutts was feeling "a little less angry" after New Zealand won its home leg today.
"The [International Union for Conservation of Nature] is the international organisation that lists endangered species, and Hector's dolphin is definitely on that list."
She said dolphins were intelligent but the speed of the boats was the problem.
"It would be a bit like saying that children are inherently aware of cars and trucks and therefore will never have an accident.
"These boats going at 100km an hour, these aren't something that these dolphins have ever encountered in their lives before."
The choice of Lyttleton Harbour as a viable host for the New Zealand leg of SailGP was a "really bad place to choose", Slooten said.
"And they were told that, over and over again, for a couple of years now."
She was pleased to hear organisers have also come to the conclusion that it was not a good location.
"There are places in New Zealand and around the world that you could choose where there is not a dolphin that is only found in that country and that is endangered."
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