Surprise dolphin hitches a ride in New Zealand fishermen’s boat

The bottlenose dolphin, weighing more than 400kg, leapt aboard the open-top boat as its occupants were fishing off the country’s north coast

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A member of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation tends to the dolphin at Waitangi after it was removed from the fishing boat. Photo: Department of Conservation via AP

Published: 3:20pm, 5 Mar 2025

A placid fishing trip turned “berserk” for three New Zealand men when a dolphin weighing more than 400kg (900 pounds) appeared to fall out of the sky before crash-landing in their small boat.

No one was badly hurt when the 3.4 metre (11-foot) bottlenose dolphin jumped aboard the open-top boat on Friday, said Dean Harrison, the owner of the nearly 16-foot (4.9-metre) vessel.

The dolphin is seen inside the boat in this still from a video taken on Friday in Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Photo: Dean Harrison via AP

Harrison and two companions were fishing near the Hole in the Rock, a picturesque spot off the far north coast of New Zealand’s North Island, while dolphins frolicked ahead. The men saw a shadow across the bright summer sun and heard an almighty boom – before chaos unfolded.

“This one decided to jump on board and say hello,” Harrison said. “One minute everything was fine and then just like lightning striking, there’s a big dolphin in our boat thrashing around and breaking everything.”

One minute everything was fine and then just like lightning striking, there’s a big dolphin in our boat thrashing around and breaking everything

Dean Harrison, boat owner

The creature’s flailing snapped “every single fishing rod we had in the boat” and severely damaged the bow as the trio clung to the sides of the vessel, said Harrison. One man had minor injuries to his arm where the juvenile male dolphin grazed his back and shoulder, but all three fishermen and the dolphin were otherwise uninjured.