Compromise reached about feeding dolphins

Tourism operators and the Queensland Government have formally reached an agreement over dolphin feeding conditions at Tin Can Bay, on the state's south-east coast.

Local cafe owners ignored State Government regulations last year which banned people from feeding the dolphins and the laws were later overturned.

The Environment Minister, Desley Boyle, says the new arrangement allows only the two existing dolphins to be fed, and penalties will apply if the conditions are ignored.

"The safety of the dolphins is why I'd taken such a strong stand and I still do have some concerns about that," she said.

"This agreement will protect them in terms of the types of fish and the amount of feeding.
"It will protect them, we would hope, from any bad handling and transmission of viruses or human infections," said Ms Boyle.

One of the cafe's co-owners, Troy Anderson, says they have reached a sensible agreement.
"It was just sensible in the end. There was no need for all the rubbish that went on in the first place, but we just had a list of guidelines of what we wanted, and they came in with what they wanted, and it wasn't very hard to meet in the middle at all," he said.