A resident Port River Dolphin named Namor has a lump on his body, first sighted Januray 27 2020. The Department of Environment and Water (DEW) rangers responded with a wait and see approach, not to intervene and investigate. By April the lump was still evident, and the Australian Marine Wildlife Research and Rescue organisation (AMWRRO) marine vet team advised action to investigate the cause of the lump or this dolphin could die. The rangers are standing firm not to act, due to a marine mammal policy stating intervention will only occur if the health issue was human induced. We lost another Port River dolphin Star late last year due to slow intervention to remove fishing line entanglements from her mouth. The stand to monitor and not act can only lead to another death in this declining population of wild dolphins.

We would call on Minister David Speirs to step in and give permission to the AMWRRO team to investigate the lump on Namor and determine if treatment might save his life. 

Over the last few years we have had a high number of dolphin deaths. Some of these were small calves hit by boats, sickness, fishing entanglements, and other deaths from unknown causes. It's time to save the remaining dolphins from all health issues, human induced or not.