Three-year-old Rocket had become something of a local celebrity.<\/p>\n
The dolphin calf was orphaned as a seven-month-old when her mother Ripple disappeared in September 2022.<\/p>\n
Dolphin calves typically stay with their mothers until they are three to four years old to feed off their milk, according to veteran dolphin researcher Dr Mike Bossley.<\/p>\n
“In the early days just after her Mum died, she just hung in the water looking listless, not moving around very much,” he said.<\/p>\n
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Rocket was not expected to survive after becoming a seven-month-old orphan. (Supplied: Marianna Boorman)<\/p>\n
“There was a major concern that she didn’t know how to catch fish properly.<\/p>\n
“But somehow \u2026. she did. Somehow, she survived.”<\/p>\n
Protecting the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary<\/a><\/p>\n Inside one of the world’s only city-based dolphin sanctuary, the pod population has halved since becoming protected and experts fear some of their biggest challenges are ahead.<\/p>\n Dr Bossley has followed Rocket’s family in the Port River for nearly 40 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said the orphaned calf spent much of her time alone after her mother’s death and only began swimming with other dolphins in the past six months.<\/p>\n “Lots of people had known about Rocket [and] went down to the Port River to watch her,” he said.<\/p>\n “She became a real celebrity in a way because having been orphaned as a seven-month-old, most people thought she probably wouldn’t survive, including me.<\/p>\n “She really became I guess \u2026 a symbol of hope for survival in these difficult times of the algal bloom and lots and lots of marine life dying.<\/p>\n “She seemed to be hanging in there, but in the end didn’t.”<\/p>\n Rocket died last week after a suspected propeller strike from a boat.<\/p>\n Her body was found near Snowden Beach with “a very large gash” on her tail stock, said Dr Bossley, indicating the death was not from natural causes.<\/p>\n Marine scientist Mike Bossley says he has tracked Rocket’s family for nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n “There’s a huge amount of sadness, grief being expressed by a very large number of people,” he said.<\/p>\n “There are calls for some kind of memorial to Rocket, there are people putting flowers out, lots of people expressing their anger that Rocket has died and lots of people making suggestions on how things might be improved.”<\/p>\n Calls for propeller guards on boats<\/p>\n Boat owner Shane Hryhorec is among those pushing for change.<\/p>\n He launched a petition at the weekend which has urged the state government to mandate propeller guards for all motorised vessels that entered the Port River Dolphin Sanctuary.<\/p>\n The petition has more than 1,200 signatures as of Monday morning.<\/p>\n An aerial view of the Port River. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n Mr Hryhorec said propeller guards would “put that extra layer of protection between boats and the other dolphins”.<\/p>\n “When I first started boating in the Port River only very recently, I was just amazed that it wasn’t already required,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.<\/p>\n “I said to my marine mechanic, I said, ‘look, what’s the process of putting a propeller guard onto the boat?’.<\/p>\n “And he said, ‘it’s only a few hundred dollars’.”<\/p>\n Independent MLC Tammy Franks, who chaired a parliamentary committee set up in 2022 to examine the dolphin sanctuary, said propeller guards were a “really simple measure” and a “small investment” for boat owners.<\/p>\n She said reforms to the Animal Welfare Act which passed parliament earlier this year gave the Environment Minister the power “to ban boats without propeller guards being in the dolphin sanctuary”.<\/p>\n “The laws have passed; the minister needs to enact,” she told ABC Radio Adelaide.<\/p>\n “When Rocket survived the death of her Mum, everyone sort of held out hope that Rocket would make it and against all odds had survived.<\/p>\n “But then to be taken out by boat strike \u2014 a completely preventable death \u2014 something has to be done.”Minister says she needs department briefing<\/p>\n Environment Minister Lucy Hood said she had asked to be briefed by her department this week about the circumstances surrounding Rocket’s death.<\/p>\n She said it was understood the death was caused by “significant trauma by a vessel”.<\/p>\n “I’m advised that there probably hasn’t been a vessel strike of a dolphin in around five years,” she told ABC Radio Adelaide.<\/p>\n Ms Hood, who was sworn in as Environment Minister 10 days ago<\/a>, said there was already “a lot of protection” around the sanctuary, including a seven-knot speed limit and distance from dolphin requirements.<\/p>\n New Environment Minister Lucy Hood has requested a briefing from her department about Rocket’s death. (ABC News: Trent Murphy)<\/p>\n “There are a lot of measures that have already been implemented, but they’ve been based on a lot of reports, investigations [and] a select [parliamentary] committee,” she said.<\/p>\n “So really, the important thing here is to make sure that when we look at the protection of this area and any other measures that they are done based on facts and making sure we’re aware of all the circumstances.”<\/p>\n Asked if she would consider a ban if a boat without a propeller guard was found to be responsible, Ms Hood said she would not “jump to any of those conclusions”.<\/p>\n “The fact is that we do need to get all of the facts there, make sure that I’m briefed by the department, but I do obviously welcome ideas from the community,” she said.<\/p>\n History of dolphin deaths<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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