EDITORIAL: Marineland doomed by cost, rules

Paul Taggart
Here we go again. The great dolphin debate has reared its ugly head once more, revived by the 40th anniversary of Napier's greatest ever tourism drawcard, Marineland.
The issue is the same as it has been for quite a few years, with only two realistc options - importing captive dolphins to replace the ageing Kelly and Shona, or changing the emphasis of the iconic attraction after the existing inhabitants die or become too old to leap through a hoop.
Everything from a modified animal centre to a wine and food facility have been proposed for the Marine Parade site, but Marineland without dolphins would be like Laurel without Hardy or Caroline without Georgina.
It seemed as if Napier MP Russell Fairbrother was holding out an olive branch yesterday when he said conservation minister Chris Carter would not hinder a bid by Napier City Council to import captive dolphins from overseas to keep the facility going.
But the devil is in the detail, with Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott stating that only larger species are now available to be imported and it would cost $10 million to $15 million to enlarge the Marineland facility to make it suitable for the bigger mammals.
Such a price tag is too much for the council to contemplate, so Mr Fairbrother's suggestion does nothing to advance the situation. If he had come to the party with $10 million central government funding from Michael Cullen's election year war chest to put towards the tank upgrade then it would have been a more worthwhile gesture.
However, the number of votes purchased with such generosity would be unlikely to justify the expenditure, so it isn't going to happen.
The blindingly obvious alternative - capturing replacement dolphins off our own coast - has long been opposed by the same Department of Conservation that Mr Fairbrother thinks would be agreeable to replacements being flown in from overseas. Both options are likely to cause anxiety for the mammals, but is there really that much difference in the degrees of suffering? After all, flying in the freight space of a 747 is not exactly natural for a marine mammal.
That leaves the council with one option - to battle on with Kelly and Shona strutting their stuff until they can't do it any longer. After that an exciting and colourful part of Napier's tourism industry will die along with the dolphins.
It will be a sad day for the region, but a joyous occasion, no doubt, for the animal-rights activists who have worked to undermine Marineland for years.