Allowing more marine farms in the outer Marlborough Sounds could drive off its Dusky dolphins population, an expert has told the Environment Court.
Bernd Wursig, professor of marine biology and wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, said research by his masters students showed dolphins did not feed around mussel
farms.
The Marlborough District Council called Mr Wursig as an expert witness in a hearing of the court that began in Blenheim yesterday.
The court is hearing evidence on how two proposed farms might impact on the population of the dolphins in Admiralty Bay.
In 2000, the Marlborough District Council declined Kuku Mara Partnership's application for resource consents for two 42.25ha farms.
The partnership has appealed the decision to the Environment Court.
Several groups oppose the farms -- including the council, Marlborough Environment Centre, Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay and the Department of Conservation.
Mr Wursig told the court his students' research showed Dusky dolphins were found less often around mussel farms than other parts of Admiralty Bay, and that farms appeared to hinder the dolphins' foraging.
Dolphins would not swim under surface obstructions or human-made structures, so new aquaculture sites would reduce the habitat dolphins used.
Mr Wursig said it was possible, as marine farmers had witnessed, that dolphins could use a farm's lines as a barrier to help them herd fish for feeding, but he had not seen it.
The two mussel farms would not result in the dolphins becoming an endangered or threatened species.
But he advised caution because he could not predict the effect of the dolphins being displaced by the farms.
The hearing is continuing today.
- NZPA
