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Bay of Islands Mammal Sanctuary rules


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Received this in my email today.

Seems the widely discussed BoI Marine Mammal Sanctuary was signed into law today.

Key takeaways:

    1. Boats within 300m from a marine mammal must stop immediately until the mammals leave

    2. Swimmers within 300m of a marine mammal must exit the water immediately

    3. Certain areas have a speed restriction of 5 knots

Supplied "User Guide" is attached.

There will be a way for event organisers to work with DoC to get an exemption.

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BOI MMS User Guidance - DOC-6818995.pdf

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Received same email and what a load of bollocks.Obviously pushed through by a committee of no boating/sailing knowledge.

Picking DOC will be out over xmas enforcing the rules with fisheries issuing speeding fines??

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Its not peoples inter reaction with them,its the feed has been removed.DOC are dorks at times,running downhill as "BP" said doing 9+ what emergency drop,ripped/broken gear??And the bloody mammal still wants play in your wake,then what. 
 No schools of baitfish no Dolphins simple as that.

Kevin you are doing very well to stop in 300ms even if rounding hard up head to wind

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I hope someone has told the Dolphins that they can't come and surf on my bow wave anymore, or swim along side just because they like to. The only reasons that Dolphins are in short supply in the B.o.I is that their food chain is disappearing, the less food there is for the stingrays and other dolphin tucker they soon look somewhere else and of course the Dolphins follow.

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2 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:

BP, flog everything? How long does it take you to heave to? It's a part of my briefing when people come aboard and I make sure they can do it.

Do you have a 60’ schooner too?

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2 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:

PS I'm happy that the environment comes ahead of recreational boaties, what a radical idea. FFS.

I’d also like that to be the case, but these rules are not saying that

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There are exceptions including "restricted ability to manoeuvre" and approved events. So looks like we will all have slugs that we can't control, and all is okay for racing.

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the reality is it is a relatively limited area that is restricted speed, and for anything else you may have to alter course, or slow slightly to let them pass around or in front of you.  Yes there may be times when an animal decides ot attach itself to you, but I'm not figuring its that frequent, especially with a range of targets.

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Last year I was anchored in Oke Bay swimming on the boat and a pod of dolphins came in and frolicked for a good 30 mins close to shore. Apparently since boats have been banned from chasing them they have come looking for interaction .

2 days later, same spot I was in the water again and 3 Orca came in and checked us all out. One swam under me twice while I held the anchor rode. First he looked at me with his right eye, then spun around and looked with his left. I'm a pretty confident sort of guy but I still made a hash of 'nonchalantly' meandering around to the ladder and getting the hell out of the water 😅

They've been around for a lot longer than us and will be here long after we're gone

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Dolphins are supposed to be as smart as a smart dog. How many dogs have gone extinct coz they spent too much time chasing a stick?

 

My problem with this, like the biofouling rules, is it's being dumped on us with no mention of any actual research to back it up. Sounds like somebody just made some stuff up and we are wearing the consequences. 

Kevin you'd probably find more support on here for protecting the marine environment than the rest of the population,  but these rules appear to be just dumb, they need to be sold better at the very least. 

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5 minutes ago, twisty said:

I suspect that this is more aimed at Rivieras and fizzies than yachts that are in most cases slower than any dolphin or orca.

That is quite a large 5 knot zone.  That can only be a good thing....

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