Nan Rice, founder of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, died on January 12, 2026, in Cape Town at age 93. She dedicated over five decades to protecting dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals. Her activism began in 1969 after witnessing a cruel dolphin capture.
Nan Rice's passion for marine conservation ignited on a December morning in 1969 in Hout Bay, where she watched about 200 dusky dolphins trapped in a fishing net. Four dolphins died on the beach, and the rest were traumatized upon release. This event transformed her, a simple housewife and divorced mother of three sons, into a lobbyist for dolphin protection. Within a month, the Cape Province administrator adopted an ordinance safeguarding dolphins, and the 1973 Sea Fisheries Act extended protections along the entire South African and Namibian coastlines.
In 1977, she founded the nonprofit Dolphin Action and Protection Group (DAPG) with the motto “Dolphins should be free”. The group soon expanded to whales. In 1975, Rice assisted Nick Carter of the International Society for the Protection of Animals in investigating the pirate whaling ship MV Sierra, exposing its illegal operations. The DAPG's 1979 “Save the Whales” campaign led to whale protection regulations in 1980, amended for year-round coverage in 1984.
Further achievements included banning deadly drift-nets in 1989, protecting great white sharks in 1991, and a 1992 campaign against plastic pollution under the MARPOL convention. In 1984, she supported the Save Antarctica effort, and in 2006, collaborated on the South African Whale Disentanglement Network for rescues. Rice advocated euthanasia for stranded whales, stating in 2009: “You can’t be sentimental, you have to be serious.”
She received honors like Woman of the Year in 1989 and a Gold Medal in 2006. A 2014 dispute over using funds for her retirement strained the DAPG's executive, leading to its disbandment in 2022. Rice is survived by son Duncan and three grandchildren. A remembrance ceremony is set for March 12, 2026.
As Mike Meÿer of SAWDN noted, she was “a true pioneer in the fight to protect our oceans’ most vulnerable mammals,” inspiring generations through compassion and resolve.
