Dolphins Caught and Released

The managing director of the Mount Maunganui Marineland, Mr A. G. Piggales, had a frustrating fishing weekend in Nelson waters earlier this month. Mr Piggales came to Nelson in an attempt to capture a black-fish for the Marineland. A trawler was chartered for the job and the search was undertaken in Tasman Bay and in the D'Urville Island region. The search for blackfish was unrewarding, but there was no scarcity of dolphins, and before the weekend was up, Mr Piggales managed to capture two Dusky Dolphins so that the weekend hunt at that stage appeared quite fruitful. However, the modeller's pond at Tahunanui proved quite inadequate as a holding pen for the pair because of the low water level, and so rather than risk letting them die, Mr Piggales released them into the sea again. These pictures of the search, and the methods used to capture the dolphins, were taken for us by Mr Philip Vela, South Island manager of Nelson Fisheries, who accompanied the fishing party for much of the search. The pictures above show Mr Piggales in the "pulpit" ready to use a net on dolphins in front of the trawler's bows, and at top right, an unsuccessful scoop at a dolphin as it surfaces. The picture, right, taken after Mr Vela had returned to Nelson, shows the two dolphins in a holding cradle during the trip home.

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