Should You Swim With This Dolphin?

Swimming with wild spinner dolphins in their Hawaiian habitats sounds like fun -- but it may be illegal. (Wild Dolphin Foundation)

"There are some initial studies that have shown some changes in the behavior of the dolphins," said Chris Yates, marine mammal branch chief for the Hawaiian division of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "We're very concerned about the impact that these programs are having both on the individual dolphins themselves and on the dolphin population as a whole." (Young is worried about the impact on humans, as well; in 2003 a man swimming with dolphins off Oahu lost part of his foot to a shark.)

According to Trevor Spradlin, a marine mammal biologist with NOAA Fisheries in Silver Spring, dolphin-swim tours cross the line "and go from passive observation and learning to interaction and disturbance." He compares the tours unfavorably with safaris, where humans observe from a distance.

"Nobody would think to get out of the safari vehicle and pet the zebras," he said.

The state doesn't have jurisdiction to ban the dolphin swims, though it can regulate commercial permits for boats that launch from harbors and ramps. Meanwhile, the feds are understaffed and have a tough time making cases against violators of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

NOAA Fisheries' guidelines for observing Hawaiian marine mammals state that humans should stay 50 yards from the animals -- a distance that would make swimming with them impossible. These are guidelines, however, not law. Furthermore, while many tour operators simply aren't adhering to them, many tourists are unfamiliar with them. Unless they go to NOAA's Web site and look up the guidelines -- found at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/MMWatch/hawaii.htm -- it is difficult for visitors to Hawaii to know that anyone thinks poorly of the practice of swimming with wild dolphins. NOAA and the DLNR hope to change that, with beefed-up public relations campaigns.

But at this point most tourists are likely to be as clueless as I was. Selfishly, and in retrospect, I realize that ignorance was, truly, bliss.

* * *

The captain's radio source was correct. In the distance, we could see a couple of boats, and silver flashes in the water. We'd found the dolphins, not far from what's known locally as Electric Beach, near Kahe Point. It's named for the nearby power plant and thus isn't the prettiest place to snorkel on Oahu. But the warm outflow encourages coral growth on the plant's submerged water exhaust pipes, so there were lots of colorful fish and, of course, the spinners. I wasn't about to complain about the scenery.

I tried to take photos of the gamboling dolphins, but Sara, my 8-year-old daughter and snorkeling partner, was dancing with impatience, so we set off for our swim. The first thing I noticed when I put my head underwater was a funny noise. Maybe it was air escaping from my mask? Then I realized that the otherworldly clicks and whistles were coming from the dolphins.

I raised my head to see dolphins all over the place. As the crew, which had a better vantage point, yelled directions from the boat, "On your right!" "Look below you!" (and once, "Don't cut them off!" to an overeager group of swimmers), Sara and I gazed around us, amazed at the zooming, twirling, somersaulting creatures.

The spinners are about 5 feet long and 150 pounds, with three shadings, from dark gray on top and on their dorsal fins, to a blue-gray in the middle, to white on their bellies. They have sharper snouts than bottlenose dolphins and plumpish bodies that, though barely seeming to undulate, are very difficult to keep up with.

Twice Sara and I got ourselves in position exactly right and joined a pod of 10 or so dolphins, swimming in formation with them, feeling almost as smooth and as graceful as they were.

After a while the dolphins, who appeared to be paying no attention to us whatsoever, moved on to cavort in another part of the bay. We treaded water as we watched them flashing and flipping away.

It didn't occur to us at the time that our short encounter disrupted the dolphins. They were clearly in a frolicsome mood when we got there, and we didn't try to touch or feed them. I can well imagine, though, that a visit later in the day would be unwelcome, that too many people in the water could be disruptive, that visits day after day would be wearing, and that some people -- there are always a few -- might try to touch or feed them. As Yates said to me, "While your one time here was great, that happens every day."

Even Cullins, as owner of Wild Side, is rethinking the practice. "I don't think swimming with them in itself harasses them," she told me several months after our trip. "I think it's the quantity of the people out there and the way they're doing it." She said she's seen other tour operators cutting off dolphins, trying to herd them in one direction or another, or disturbing them during their midday resting periods (Wild Side goes out only once a day, first thing in the morning). This past year, she said, she's been thinking it's just getting to be too much.

Last month, NOAA Fisheries published an "Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making" requesting input from the public on the spinner-dolphin swim tours. It is perhaps the first step in restricting or explicitly outlawing them in Hawaii. If NOAA comes up with regulations, Cullins said, she'll support them. "Something has to happen."

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't go on another wild-dolphin swim. I'll wait to see how NOAA's regulatory process plays out. But this is one Flipper-turned-spinner fan who can't help but hope that the agency will find some way -- perhaps on a severely restricted basis -- to allow the fantasies-come-true to continue.

Elizabeth Chang last wrote for Travel on camping in Molokai, Hawaii.