A group of wildlife boat operators "committed to working together with the aim of creating a sustainable future for the industry in Cornwall" have said the death of the dolphin was an "outrage".

Saying the small pod was a "hanging onto the very limits of viability" it said the pod appeared in Cornish waters in 1991 and the size of the group has fluctuated since then, with numbers as low as 25.

In a statement Cornwall Marine Life Boat Operators group said: "Bottlenose dolphins are one of the most charismatic animals in the sea. Their obvious intelligence, strong family bonds, apparent joy in their surroundings and their interaction with people mean often people long to have the experience of seeing them, swimming with them and even touching them.

"We in Cornwall are blessed to have a small number of these animals roaming our shores; rarely venturing more than a mile offshore, the bottlenoses that so many people have seen around the coast are almost all part of the same group.

"This summer, this very proximity to the shore in our recent glorious weather has brought them into contact with humans as never before, and many of us have felt that elusive connection with a wild animal which we strive for. However this proximity brings terrible risks.

"Bottlenose dolphins are one of four species of small cetacean regularly seen around our coasts, but because of their often friendly nature and fondness of estuaries and sheltered water, they are particularly vulnerable.

The group says that the "small" pod only appeared in Cornish waters in 1991 and the size of the group has fluctuated since then.

In a group this small, every individual is precious, every successful birth a gift – make no mistake, this is a pod hanging onto the very limits of viability. Recent careful studies have identified about 25 animals in this group in total (though they are rarely seen all together): recent events in the Camel estuary could mean this number is down to 24.

"Boats in the wrong hands are dangerous things, not only to people, but to the animals in the water who are unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Dolphins which are chased, surrounded, closely followed, or split up are going to be distressed, injured or killed. Even if the incident in Padstow in which the Cornish bottlenose dolphins were subjected to this treatment did not turn out to cause the death of one of their number after all – even if the body which was photographed in the estuary by a concerned charter boatman, which he attempted to retrieve, turns out to be a porpoise or common dolphin killed in another way – it remains an outrage.

"Surely common decency tells us we should not behave like this around the wild dolphins we are lucky enough to have in our waters?

It added that the group was established in the spring of 2013 by concerned marine wildlife watching companies in Cornwall whose "primary aim is to establish and maintain high and exemplary standards when watching wildlife, and to encourage others to do the same".

It has a code of conduct and that the death was "exactly the kind of incident we want to eliminate".

To find out more about the scheme contact marinediscovery@hotmail.com or visit the website www.cornwallmarinelife.org.