Myself  and fellow volunteer Jenni Wyrsta, along with the greater community of Port Adelaide surrounds and afar,are asking for a ban on the use of heavy gauge fishing line,live bait and squid jigs within the Adelaide dolphin sanctuary. (ADS)

The Liberal government and it's departments have not had serious discussions at all about this topic and it has been nearly 12 months since the issue was raised to N.P.W.S marine park rangers and P.I.R.S.A officials.We now need to tell the government and it's departments that they aren't doing a good enough job of managing the welfare of the dolphins that reside in the ADS.

On 8th March,2021 myself  and Jenni Wyrsta had detected one of the resident dolphins named 'Twinkle' with a part of his mandible missing with scratches along the top of his head,perilously close to his blowhole. After sending photos to be analyzed by a marine mammal expert,the cause was deemed as highly likely to be caused by a squid jig.

In 2019 a dolphin named 'Star' sadly succumbed to her injuries from 'gang hooks' and in April of 2019, a dolphin calf named 'Mimo' had an entanglement around his mandible and had to be rescued to cut the heavy line away from him,as well as release a large hook caught near his mouth.

The use of gang hooks,squid jigs and heavy line is prevalent in the Adelaide dolphin sanctuary as is trawling,e.g the use of gang hooks towed behind a boat (especially Dock 1 at inner Port trawling for Yellowtail Kingfish) This is how 'Star' had became entangled in the fishing line.She was simply and instinctively going after what she thought was her prey as do all the other dolphins.

'Star's' examination was performed by Professor Roger Byard, a forensic pathologist from The University of Adelaide.

He said that death was caused by entanglement and a fishing hook that had embedded in her throat resulting in a large abscess.

“There are some very bad ways to die” commented Prof Byard, “and this is one of them. It is not a good thing to see such a beautiful animal like this have such a slow and painful death”.

 “We are supposed to be protecting these dolphins” said Prof Byard “not just watching them die”.

All volunteers,as well as dolphin lovers around the Port and beyond ,are concerned for the welfare of the other 30 or so resident dolphins of the sanctuary and want to make it safer for them by putting safeguards in place to protect their future including and not limited to :

1 - No live-bait to be used in the sanctuary AT ALL

2 - No large hook sizes to be used

3 - Ban use of heavy gauge fishing lines

4 - No trawling inside the Angas or Barker inlets,Port river or inner Port

Please note : We DO NOT want a complete ban on fishing in the sanctuary,or for this to be seen as the first step of such a ban.We want families,young children and everyday fisherman alike , to still enjoy their hobby and take a feed home for themselves.