Marine mammal ethics.

[Graeme Duane]

Recently we've had a lot of dealings with the ethics of dealing with whales and dolphins from a filming and photography perspective. My feeling is that as long as the approach is sensitive and doesn't involve motorised propulsion, and that the animals always have the option to depart and not be pursued thereafter.

We've had some amazing encounters with whales and dolphins, where the animal has instigated the contact and remained with us for the duration.

In South Africa this is verging on law breaking, although the law itself is quite grey.

What do you think?

[Patrick O'Donoghue]

I spearfish and have had a number of encounters with southern right and humpback whales off the Natal coast, sometimes the whales have moved off but at other times seem quite unconcerned and have even let me touch them so I don't see any problem if you are sensitive to their wants.I have never approached close with my skiboat but have always swum to them from some distance away or from shore.However as with most things in life the stupid minority have to be catered for and I have seen people doing foolish things with boats so I guess this is why we will have laws that stop us (legally) interacting with them.

[Graeme Duane]

For people with a sense of responsibility the ethics are close to home. For the "stupid minority" its obviously different, yes.

The problem we have, certainly in South Africa, and in a lot of other places that I've worked, is that the authorities make blanket policy that basically excludes everyone from approaching marine mammals. Control is good, but shouldn't it be our right to interact with these creatures on appropriate terms?

My point is, that having applied to organisations like MCM for controlled access to whales & dolphins has resulted in the statement "if we give permision to you, we'll have to give it to everyone". This is a real cop out, especially when you consider that they're trying to push through a 500 meter restriction, and having to "retreat" when a whale or dolphin approaches.

I wonder if we could sue the marine mammals for chasing us unlawfully?

[Patrick O'Donoghue]

I agree with you 100%, but that law sounds about right for the amount of thought which usually goes with lawmaking mentality.In winter with the sards around I doubt whether I'm ever less than 500m from dolphins.And what happens with a normal dive? I'll have to increase my swimming speed radically to keep ahead of the dolphins swimming by or coming to take a look.

I have 2 daughters and took both of them out (and a number of their friends) as soon as they were able to go out on the skiboat to jump in to see the dolphins.For both of them it was an awsome experience that they realize they were extremely lucky to have.My son is almost old enough and whatever the law he will certainly have the same privelage.When you see a dolphin bringing a piece of seaweed up to a 10 yr (almost but lets not get picky about the laws for age and crew now) old little girl and watching to see what she will do with it and her body language change from nervousness to wonder you have to know the law is going in the wrong direction

[Graeme Duane]

Ya, I think that dolphins have all the options open to them. They can flee with amazing speed, they certainly don't stick around if they don't want to.

The other point is law-making hypocracy. Why restrict access to dolphins & whales, when they're not even threatened by such behaviour in the first place. What about the trawling, longlining industries? Those are hardly policed. Hell, what about the Sharks Board? They're killing dolphins often, they're not being restricted by these laws.

My sense now is that if you're happy that you're responsible, you should go ahead in the best way that you see fit. Its like spearfishing, there's huge potential for irresponsibility, but the sport works well, because not everyone is bad. Far from it.