Christine Rose: Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders spokesperson on the SailGP moving from Lyttleton Harbour

Dolphin advocates are celebrating SailGP's decision to move next year's event from Christchurch. 

SailGP announced the 2025 edition wouldn't return to Lyttelton Harbour, which has hosted for the last two years. 

In this year's event, the first day of racing was controversially cancelled due to a Hector's Dolphin spotting. 

Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders spokesperson Christine Rose told Mike Hosking that regulations are in place for anyone using boats in Hector's Dolphin habitats. 

She says those rules have to apply for everyone else, especially when the scale of impacts is greater. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Christ which loses sale GP it's gone, threats made good.
The league has withdrawn the hosting agreement. We hope it's
still in the country and the theory is it's probably
Auckland if they stay. But the Hector's Dolphin advocates they
celebrated yesterday. Of course, Christine rose from the Mali and
Hector's Dolphin defenders New Zealanders with us. Christine, good morning,
good morning. Do you see it as a win.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
It is a win for the Dolphins because Littleton Harbor's
Hector's Dolphin habitat so no place for a high speed
boat race, and this decision rightly reflects.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
That should it have ever got to the point of
staging something there, if what you say is correct, and
we should never have been there in the first place.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It should never have been there. You know, Russell Coots
signed up to the regulations that were designed to protect
hectors because that is their home, and then of course
had to stop the race because the Hectors were in
their home and then complained about it. So it would
have been fairer to ticket holders, to the other organizers

(00:58):
and supporters, and to the Dolphin and to the people
of New Zealand. To not have the race, not even
to plan to have the race there, And they should
really have put marine mammals Hector's dolphins at the center
of decision making to start with, and that would have
indicated that that was not the right place to have
the race.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
So when you say the center, that's like, if there's
a Hector's dolphin in an area there is nothing doing
like that, you have no room for negotiation on that.
It just shouldn't be their full stop.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, there are rules that apply to you and I
using boats in Hector's dolphin habitat, and so those rules
have to apply to everybody else, especially where the scale
of impacts are greater, which they were with sale GP
And so yeah, you know, these dolphins are only found
in New Zealand, they're really rare, and they're already being

(01:44):
wiped out by the fishing industry, which has killed fifteen
Hector's dolphins since November. So add to that these high
impact boat races and it's just not appropriate. New Zealand's
got some really wonderful opportunities to host this race. It
would be really exciting somewhere else, but marine mammals aren't
where marine mammals aren't at risk and so let's all

(02:06):
get behind that. You know, I certainly would be good on.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
You, Christine. Nice to talk to you, Christine Rose Moowey
and Hector's Dolphin Defenders New Zealand Mind.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
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