Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary

The Port Adelaide River and Barker inlet is economically, socially, culturally and historically important. It is possibly the most intensively used marine waterway in South Australia and contains:

metropolitan Adelaide's power plants
a large wastewater treatment plant
significant light and heavy industries
the state's major port, with thousands of vessel movements annually
new developments, both industrial and residential
significant European and Aboriginal cultural and historical relationships
important recreational activities including fishing, bird watching and dolphin watching.

The area is also home to 30 or more Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), with some 300 more dolphins thought to visit. The mangroves, seagrass, saltmarsh, tidal flats, tidal creeks and estuarine rivers in the region all provide habitat and food for the dolphins.

One hundred and fifty years of intensive use has severely affected the environment which has seen an increase in chemical and thermal pollution, introduced marine pests, litter and excess nutrients in the water.

The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary was proposed by members of the local community who became concerned about the safety of the dolphins and the quality of their environment. Widespread consultation showed a strong desire in the community to protect the dolphins and in June 2005, the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act was proclaimed.

The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary is about much more than protecting dolphins. We cannot protect them without protecting the environment where they live. The dolphin sanctuary is about managing existing and future activities to support the viability of the environment on which we all rely. The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act contains six clearly defined objectives to achieve this:

Protect the dolphins from physical harm.
Maintain, protect and restore key habitat features.
Improve water quality.
Ensure the interests of the community are taken into account in management of the area.
Promote public awareness of the importance of a healthy environment to the economic, social and cultural prosperities of the area.
Promote the principles of ecological sustainable development in management of the area.

There are several other government sponsored dolphin reserves in the world but none of them offer quite the same level of animal protection, or cooperation between government and the local community. The rest of the world is watching and learning from our experience.