A JET ski rider horrified onlookers as the machine was seen steering into a flock of black swans at Port Stephens, as a tour operator says a surge in the water sport's popularity is changing the behaviour of dolphins.
Paul Stewart and his wife Michelle were visiting the picturesque Bagnalls Beach on Saturday and admiring black swans when a shocking incident unfolded just after 11am.
The Sydney-based associate professor told the Newcastle Herald he saw a lone jet ski rider disturb a flock of black swans feeding on a seagrass meadow at the east end of the beach, causing them to move about 300 metres.
Professor Stewart said he then watched in disbelief as the jet ski pursued the birds and rode straight at them, appearing to strike some of the stragglers that didn't make it out of the water in time.
He said he didn't see those swans again and suspected they had been killed.
"We had no idea that they were actually going to run them over, we hadn't seen that before, hadn't envisaged it," he said.
"I was dumbfounded ... how shocking and horrifying it was.
"It takes a while to digest something like that."
Professor Stewart said he contacted Marine Area Command police and he was told a patrol boat was sent out.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said Port Stephens Hunter officers were not aware of the report.
It has been a busy summer in Port Stephens, and there are concerns the rise in jet ski popularity is coming at the cost of the marine environment.
Professor Stewart said the sunny Bagnalls Beach was lined with families and children at the time - the start of the New Year's long weekend - who could also see what happened.
He and his wife had seen photos of the reserve, with trees down to the water line, clear blue waters, and lots of animals to spot.
"What sort of ... twisted individuals would do something like that to the wildlife?" he said.
A NSW Police spokeswoman urged anyone with information about alleged incidents on the water should contact police.
"Since the beginning of December, police have received several calls regarding jet skis travelling close to the shoreline on waterways in the area, however there have been no formal complaints," she said.
Imagine Cruises' Frank Future has been operating dolphin and whale-watching tours from Nelson Bay for almost 30 years.
He said these holidays had been the busiest yet for jet skis.
"In the summer holiday period particularly, we have seen that they are going up exponentially," he said.
He's worried jet skis are disrupting the bay's highly intelligent bottlenose dolphins.
He said they were often driven at high speeds, sometimes erratically, didn't make much noise underwater, and the spray could make it hard for the rider to spot marine life.
"The dolphins get really worried about them," he said.
"They are definitely changing their behaviour during busy holiday periods.
"We don't know what effect that will have long-term, if any, but it does irritate them."
One of his tour groups on Friday saw a pod of dolphins enter the bay but turn around not long after to go back offshore. There were jet skis nearby.
Mr Future said turtles and other animals that surfaced could be at risk of being hit.
"We tend to look at animals as expendable but dolphins in this port are worth millions of dollars a year - not just in ticketing but in people coming here for the attraction," Mr Future said.
"[Riding jet skis is] clearly about fun, but if it's at the expense of the environment, then it's not fun."
The Nelson Bay area was packed with dozens of jet skis, swimmers and beachgoers on Friday and through the long weekend.
Mr Future urged riders to slow down if they saw dolphins or whales, or boats stopped looking at something, and keep a distance from wildlife.
- Report incidents to Crime Stoppers on 1800 000 333 or online on the NSW Police portal; call the police assistance line on 131 444; ring triple zero (000) in an emergency.
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