DO NOT approach within 50m of a dolphin
If you are in a boat, kayak or other watercraft please do not chase and approach the dolphins. In South Australia it is illegal to approach within 50m of a dolphin and 150m of a mother and her calf or a dolphin that is sick or injured. It is important the dolphins have the opportunity to rest and feed.
DO NOT feed or harass the dolphins
Please never feed the dolphins. Feeding wild dolphins is incredibly harmful for them. It alters their behaviour and causes them to hang around boats and areas where people are fishing. This increases the likelihood of them being hit by a boat, caught in fishing line or deliberately harmed. It is illegal to feed wild dolphins.
Dispose unwanted line and rubbish properly
If you are fishing please reel in your lines if dolphins are nearby and dispose of all unwanted line and rubbish properly. Fishing line and other discarded rubbish can kill or cause serious injury to dolphins and other wildlife.
About the
Patawalonga dolphins
There is currently one dolphin that regularly travels in and out of the Patawalonga Lake: A sub-adult dolphin named June, born in 2015. June's friend Summer also occasionally enters the Pat.
Dolphins are able to enter and exit the Patawalonga (the ‘Pat’) – when the water gates are open or when a boat uses the adjacent lock.
Dolphins get trapped in the boat lock
Approaching the boat lock
Patawalonga sea gates open
Sometimes the dolphins become trapped in the boat lock if they enter the lock from the opposite direction the boat is travelling.
If this happens, we ask people to please call the lock number (08) 8406 2600 so that the dolphins can be released from the boat lock either back into the Pat or back out to the open sea.
Please help our dolphins
It is an offence to feed, touch or harm dolphins.
Strict penalties apply.
The dolphins in the Pat face similar threats from humans that other wild dolphins face, such as harassment, being fed, fishing line entanglements, boat strike and effects of pollution. In the Pat, the danger of these threats may be increased because the dolphins are in a more confined area.
