A Dolphin-watching tour company has been ordered to pay $80,000 to an Australian tourist after she was hit by the boat's propellers as she jumped into the water.
Picton firm Dolphin Watch and Nature Eco Tours Ltd, which operates in the Marlborough Sounds, was also fined $55,000 after admitting two charges under work health and safety laws, local media reported.
Blenheim District Court was told Catherine Carlyle, an Australian doctor, suffered serious injuries after becoming entangled in the propeller of the company's vessel Delphinus during a swim with dolphins in Queen Charlotte Sound last December.
"The master of Delphinus put the vessel in neutral and signalled it was safe for the passengers to hop in the water by sounding the horn," Maritime New Zealand manager of maritime investigations Steve van der Splinter said.
"The guide then instructed passengers to enter the water. But when Ms Carlyle entered the water, the port propeller was still turning and her legs became entangled," he said.
