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Dolphin row about-face
Date : 12/06/2005
MYSTIQUE, Tin Can Bay's beleaguered wild dolphin who was facing a hungry and lonely future after officials banned local people from feeding him, could be getting a reprieve.
After a public outcry reported in The Sunday Mail, the State Government's Environmental Protection Agency softened its stance.
It now wants Barnacles Cafe owner Steve Walker, who runs dolphin information and feeding sessions with his wife Elona, to come up with a feeding plan for the 13-year-old dolphin, which has been visiting the area since it was born.
The battle began in April when residents in the coastal community north east of Gympie were told by the EPA to stop feeding Mystique, who almost every morning swims into shallows on the banks of Snapper River and interacts with locals and tourists.
They were told the feeding was illegal and they could be fined up to $6000.
But locals and tourists joined forces with the help of The Sunday Mail to create a public awareness campaign and collect thousands of signatures.
"Now the EPA have told us to put together a proposal on how we plan to run the sessions with Mystique," Mr Walker said. "I want to thank The Sunday Mail and everyone else who joined the fight and made our dolphin a national issue."
Mr Walker, who took over the cafe's lease on April 21, said he was working with dolphin experts, academics and volunteers to create a six-page feeding proposal.
An EPA spokeswoman said Mr Walker was told to stop feeding the wild dolphin because the activity was illegal. She said said an agreement with the previous leaseholders ended when the cafe changed hands.
"Mr Walker has no legal right to feed the dolphin. The proposal hasn't been handed in yet but we will evaluate it and make a decision," the spokeswoman said.
Dolphin-care volunteer of six years, Clive Morris, said the animal was an institution, attracting around 35,000 visitors each year.
Mr Walker said the free feeding sessions were in keeping with the EPA's strict guidelines. Mystique, who was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook, received the regulation 3.5kg of fish per day and no one was allowed to pet or swim with him.
He said the proposal would be submitted within days.
NEWS UPDATE 10/10/2005
A Tin Can Bay business at the centre of a dolphin feeding controversy says it is keen to work with the Queensland Government to develop new guidelines.
The Government backed down over the weekend on plans to take the cafe owner to court after hundreds of residents and tourists defied an order outlawing the feeding at Tin Can Bay in the state's south-east.
The feeding will continue while scientists study its impact and draw up new guidelines.
Cafe owner Steve Walker says it is important the dolphins are not put at risk.
"We welcome that, we've always wanted that ... if there is something we're doing wrong we've got to correct it, we've got to get it sorted out, it's something for the future - for my children's children and my grandchildren's children," he said.
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Source: The Sunday Mail - Australia and ABC News