AFTER more than four months of stonewalling, Transport Minister Stephan Knoll has finally agreed to meet with dolphin expert Dr Mike Bossley to discuss the deadly situation in the Port River.

The meeting — scheduled for September 25 — is a victory for Messenger Community News’s Protect Our Dolphins (POD) campaign, which has been calling on Mr Knoll to take action to prevent Port River dolphins from being killed by speeding boats.

Nearly 20,000 people have now signed our petition — backed by Dr Bossley, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Port Adelaide State and Federal Labor MPs Susan Close and Mark Butler — for a 10-knot speed limit.

The meeting has come after more than 10 requests for Mr Knoll to sit down with Dr Bossley to discuss his proposal for a 10-knot maximum speed limit in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary since the POD campaign was launched in April.

Until now, Mr Knoll has dismissed suggestions that the speed limit be lowered in the sanctuary despite ramping pressure from the community.

“I am very much looking forward to having a constructive meeting with Minister Knoll,” Dr Bossley said today.

Taking on board Mr Knoll’s concerns about any lowered speed limit, Dr Bossley has released a specific area where he believes restrictions should be applied.

The zone — where the speed limit is currently unlimited despite being in a dolphin sanctuary and in sometimes shallow waters — is directly north and east of beacon 12 at Outer Harbor, which includes the Barker Inlet and North Arm.

Pressure has been mounting on the State Government to act following the tragic death of dolphin Oriana a fortnight ago.

Oriana is the seventh dolphin to die in the sanctuary in the past 12 months.

Four calves — including Oriana’s baby CK — died earlier this year.

Her mother, Bianca, was also found dead.

A recent report by the SA Museum found that 17 out of 35 dolphin deaths in the past 13 years were caused by “blunt trauma”, which Dr Bossley says could only have resulted from being hit by speeding boats.

Dr Close urged Mr Knoll to “use his time with Dr Bossley to learn about the issue and to fix it.”

“We have lost too many dolphins to boat strike in the river and we need action,” Dr Close said.