Department of Conservation (DOC) officers will be taking a hard line on anyone that breaches conservation regulations this summer both on and off the water.
DOC has launched a summer awareness programme to better protect New Zealand’s wildlife, and is warning people who don't follow the guidelines in place will face prosecution.
In the Bay of Islands, boaties are being warned to look out for dolphin calves because calving season has just begun.
Meanwhile, tourists on charter boats in the area are banned from swimming with dolphins and charter boats are restricted on how long they can engage with the mammals.
DOC scientist Kat Peters says the Bay of Islands has seen a big decline of local bottlenose dolphins and one calf was struck by a boat last month.
“They're not coming into the Bay of Islands as they used to, we’re also seeing a really high calf mortality,” says Ms Peters.
The marine protection guidelines at sea state that no more than three boats can be within 30 metres of dolphins or whales at one time and boats have to slow down to 5 knots. The guidelines also ban people from swimming with calves.
“We are talking to people and doing advocacy but we are also doing compliance if people are breaking the rules, so it can be a prosecution situation and we would go and we would collect data on that and we will prosecute if we need to,” says Ms Peters.
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