Dolphin Marine Conservation Park Coffs Harbour
Dolphin Marine Conservation Park is located on the beautiful Mid North Coast of NSW, in the city of Coffs Harbour and sits approximately midway between Sydney and Brisbane.
We are only an hour’s flight from Sydney, with regular scheduled flights to and from our regional airport 10 minutes away. We are very close to the Jetty precinct and adjacent to the Coffs Creek and we have been engaging and educating visitors for 50 years!
We acknowledge the Gumbaynggirr people, the traditional land owners. Back at the turn of the century these people documented sacred legends which referred to incidents involving wild seals and dolphins near and surrounding our current site. These legends connect and encourage people to protect our native marine animals, and we continue to deliver this message today.
On Boxing Day in 1970, the marine park opened as a rescue and rehabilitation centre for native marine animals, and we continue with this work. We have a Rehabilitation Licence issued by NSW – Office of Environment & Heritage – NSW National Parks & Wildlife Services. Additionally, we work closely with our local branch of NSW National Parks & Wildlife Services and have a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with them on how we will work together for the benefit of our native marine animals.
We are licensed to display the animals we care for by the Department of Primary Industries - Dolphin Marine Conservation Park Licence We currently have three bottle nosed dolphins and meet the requirements to hold all these animals in our Primary Pool.
We permanently home and care for marine mammals that have been brought into human care as a result of an injury or event that prohibited the animal being released back to the wild. The offspring of past and present marine mammals and animals from other like-minded institutions in Australia also reside permanently here at the park.
We are the home to dozens of animals, more notably our Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, seals, a flock of Little Penguins, Green Sea Turtles, fresh water turtles and a variety of endemic fish species. We have the most successful breeding record in the world of the endangered Australian Sea Lion, with less than 12,000 left in the wild.
We are the only facility in NSW endorsed by the government’s regulating bodies to exhibit ‘iconic’ dolphins, one of only two facilities displaying cetaceans in Australia. What really sets us apart from other animal parks is the opportunity for visitors to engage with our animals in an extremely ‘up close and personal’ manner.
Download and view our Guest Code of Conduct Policy here: Dolphin Marine Conservation Park Conduct Policy
