The bystander effect.

One of Hong Kong's remaining mega-fauna: The Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (印度太平洋駝背豚 [Pronunciation: Yun Doe Tai Ping Yeung Tor Bui Tuen]), Scientific name: Sousa chinesis, also known as the Chinese White Dolphin (中華白海豚 [Pronunciation: Jung Wah Bak Hoi Tuen]).

The current rate of development is unprecedented, with China, Hong Kong and Macau all wanting to further urbanize their regions at the expense of the natural environment; many scientists agree that the marine ecosystem is in great peril.The current developmental proposals and infrastructure projects that are facing Hong Kong's cetacean habitats alone include a third airport runway in which 650 hectares of land will be reclaimed, a massive waste incinerator next to the near-pristine Shek Kwu Chau Island, the HK-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge construction that is already underway, the HK-Shenzhen Airport Railway, and the ten proposed reclamation sites by the Hong Kong government in an effort to combat increasing human population. How much more pollution, anthropogenic threats and environmental pressures can these pink dolphins, our heavily fragmented ecosystem, and our lungs/ bodies take? Biodiversity is essential to an ecosystem's health, resilience and is also beneficial for social and economic reasons, thus there is an urgent need to conserve species for the environment itself, as well as for our future generations.

Don't be the bystander; take action whenever and wherever possible. Write letters to legislators, participate in environmental open forum events, consume less seafood and meat products, adopt a simple lifestyle with a minimal use of plastic or non-degradable materials. Re-use and recycle, or better yet, adopt a zero-waste strategy at home. Do your part and educate others, they need all the help and voice they can get if they are to survive in this relentless, anthropocentric world.

Bag the habit and

Please also take the time to view "On the trail of the Chinese White Dolphin" photo blog by photographer Peter Yuen who came on board with us on one of our HKDCS dolphin day trips. Many thanks to Peter for dedicating his time, effort, skills and writing a blog post to inspire others to help our dolphins!
http://www.peteryuenphotography.com/Blog/Hong-Kong-Dolphin-Conservation/21688720_CR9BrF
and the following link for more flipper bubbles and splashing photos!
http://www.peteryuenphotography.com/Animals/Pink-Dolphins/21686543_XBGwG6#!i=1730029092&k=Xnh7nvz
All print proceeds from his Hong Kong Pink Dolphins gallery page will go to HKDCS! They make beautiful and thoughtful gifts for any season! :) Enjoy!

Good luck!

My 2 month internship has come to an end and I am now writing from Sydney after finishing some university assessments, now thinking about our pink dolphins and finless porpoises, my colleagues at the HKDCS, my family, my dog and the state of the remaining environment in Hong Kong. Working at HKDCS was a joyous and thrilling experience. Finally meeting the wild pink HK dolphins and porpoises, as well as the HKDCS colleagues that I have known for a while only via Facebook since the Blue-fin tuna and other captivity protest events was the highlight. In both cases, it was not at all a disappointment. They were all very friendly, intelligent, helpful and caring souls hehehe J

At times, the job was challenging, such as waking up early to catch the 730am bus to Tai O in Tung Chung for field work (Future interns must remember to sleep early!), getting your eyes and brain accustomed to looking through the binoculars while the boat flings you around during windy days around Lamma Island (If you feel sick, don’t be afraid to let the colleagues know!), trying to stay awake under the effects of drowsy motion-sickness pills (for some, this pill is a gift and is an easier and less harsh way of allowing your body to adapt to hours on a moving boat), persuading parents to buy nature books for their nature-knowledge starved kids at the book stall (wonderful and rare to see that some parents actually take the time out to go on nature walks. They identify species and cross-check from their photographs what they’ve seen during the walks from our nature books with their children- very sweet!), explaining to people that captivity kills, is cruel and is not a good way of conserving species ( (._.) ), as well as deciding which student has their arm raised the highest hence deserving the mic to answer a question during our monthly school visits (this was a very difficult task! :P). 

But please don’t be put off by this long list of challenges! Seeing wild dolphins and porpoises swimming freely, porpoising, spy-hopping and splashing about as well as being on the HKDCS team and knowing that I am working with them to safe-guard the environment for the species and our future generations was all worth it. I guarantee that any future intern who will work with the HKDCS team will enjoy their experience and gain plenty of invaluable knowledge and skills!

Here’s my good luck to the next intern! J

A Sea Turtle Love Story

When two Loggerhead turtles finally meet in this vast and unrelenting ocean, it's really one of nature's greatest events; only about "one in ten thousand make it that far". Then they would go separate ways and the female would begin her incredible and tiresome journey alone in finding suitable nesting sites for her eggs, guided by her instincts and unwavering motivation.

This is not a turtle leisurely strolling on the beach; this is a female turtle almost completing her maternal duties. It's not easy work at all for such a heavily built marine animal walking on land.

A mother turtle's treasures.

Most of the turtles that have survived the merciless onslaught from sea birds, crabs and other predators when they were babies bear horrible anthropogenic scars when they reach adulthood. They are constantly subject to an almost never-ending list of threats (as with most wildlife): pollution and oil spills, hunting, exploitation, habitat fragmentation, injuries from vessel contact, entanglement from long-line fishing, plastic bags and other rubbish dumped at sea, climate change as well as threats from their own natural predators.

Love at first sight.

I re-watched the 'love' scene from the Turtle documentary on the plane over and over again because it is so beautiful and emotional, although I was disappointed to find out that it was funded by Seaworld. Nevertheless, this is a great film that documents the life of a turtle that begins from when it was a little hatchling crawling out from its underground nest- so strong and well-oriented yet so fragile, with it's survival depending on pure luck.

Plastic bags are one of the leading causes of marine animal deaths.

Away from this wonderful and bittersweet sea turtle story and onto captivity issues: Surely SeaWorld would know and understand that turtles are made to travel and not to be kept at aquariums? Marine parks and aquariums do have its conservation and educational value, but it's cruel and the significance is small compared with seeing animals in the wild, through documentaries or conserving the immediate environment. Placing animals -especially those that are migratory or highly intelligent such as dolphins and turtles- in captivity for profitable reasons often means stealing them from the wild; it is appalling and disconcerting as it is illustrative of the ill values we are teaching our future generations.

Christie Wong

Baby Dolphin Music Video (HONG KONG EDITION)

[A video I took during our dolphin survey trip on Saturday 7th January 2012. :) I am so glad Youtube allowed me to upload this with the "Cuppy cake" background song so I didn't have to sing this myself. :p]

Chinese White Dolphins are actually better known as Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins (aka Sousa chinesis/ Pink dolphins)- they are also found in other coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific region and NOT just in Chinese waters as the local name "Chinese White Dolphin" falsely suggests. The numbers of these dolphins in the Pearl River Estuary (Hong Kong included) are not of great concern at the moment and it would probably be incorrect to say that they will be driven to extinction very rapidly in the next few years.

On the other hand, Taiwan's pink dolphin population are dangerously low and they are now listed as critically endangered. It is certainly an urgent issue for them and they need our help and protection, but it is hard not to think about and worry for the future of the dolphins in our region as well, with the HK-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, proposed reclamation sites and the airport 3rd runway development underway- meaning more hazards, pollution, habitat destruction and more stress for the dolphins. :(


An informative video about the plight of Taiwan pink dolphins from http://taiwansousa.blogspot.com/

Do we humans always have to drive a species to (almost) extinction to finally realize that we are impacting negatively on their (and our) environment (and in the future, to the point of no return)?

Animals and wildlife in construction friendly places like Hong Kong and Taiwan need our help. Educate and involve yourself, your family and friends on environmental issues and voice your concerns to the government whenever possible.

Meeting WILD Flippers in Hong Kong

Seeing dolphins in Hong Kong waters was an emotional experience for me. Of course it was amazing, unforgettable, and seeing wildlife- especially large or mega faunas like cetaceans (whales and dolphins)- in or around a concrete metropolitan like Hong Kong is always rather unbelievable. All animals are amazing in their own way, but Chinese White Dolphins (or Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins) are very special; the adults are mostly pink, the juveniles are spotted, and the calves are grey! Hong Kong also inhabits another unique and incredibly cute looking cetacean, the Finless Porpoise, which is grey in color and -as the name suggests- it lacks a dorsal fin and also a rostrum (beak).

Spotted and Unspotted Chinese White Dolphins surfacing. (Photo still from my video clip, hence the poor image quality)

A Finless Porpoise- note the lack of the dorsal fin on its back and it also does not have the long snout (rostrum or beak) that most dolphins have. (Photo by HKDCS)

It is unbelievable to see cetaceans in Hong Kong for me because I don't know how they are able to co-exist alongside humans in such a dangerous place that is so densely populated, developed (still developing- e.g. HK-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge) and polluted. As Hong Kong is an important port, massive cargo ships, container boats and high speed ferries are a common sight, so common it has become part of the waterscape. Fishing boats (e.g. trawlers & gill nets) both large, small and sometimes illegal ones are seen in our waters, puffing out black soot from their noisy engines, further exacerbating the water and noise pollution problem.

Quite a few dolphin sightings were seen in the middle of these high traffic areas and it was very disconcerting. I couldn't help but shed a tear or two (or three) because it made me think what difficult lives they must have, constantly having to be on the alert for boats, and it must be stressful for them to find food and take care of themselves and their young in such a busy environment- their home. Mother dolphins that were seen by the staff and interns sometimes appear to have lost their babies after a few months as the baby was nowhere to be seen, and many of the Chinese White dolphins I've come across during the boat survey trips have dorsal fins that are broken or sliced apart due to entanglements with fishing gear or boat strikes, one even have only half of its tail fluke left. It is certainly a very sad sight to see- dolphins stranded (although I haven't seen a stranded dolphin yet- only heaps of photos) or bearing human related scars. However, even with scars, these lucky dolphins still swim and splash about gracefully, illustrating how strong and adaptable they are. :)

Further information and ideas on what you can do to help can be found in the following publications by the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society.

Taking away their freedom and placing cetaceans (whales and dolphins) into captivity as a means to conserve their population would not be the answer to this. Placing cetaceans into captivity in the name of conservation and research, then training them to do stunts to entertain people and for profit is even worse. Instead, we should aim to involve ourselves into more direct conservation efforts, such as choosing humane or organic food products, purchasing less electronics, recycling, writing letters to legislators to demand policy changes for better management and protection of our environment, and participating in public forums and consultations during the Environmental Impact Assessment process. Most importantly, think before you buy a ticket to marine parks, where captive dolphins and whales perform unwillingly for our entertainment.

17(+) Chinese White Dolphins decided to surprise us on Thursday 23rd December while we were looking for Finless Porpoises! They surrounded our boat and stayed with us for quite a while (we would love to watch them all day but we had to leave)! They were all very active, showing off their unique colors, patterns, graceful jumps and porpoising out of the water- the best and most gorgeous water acrobats!

Look! The baby! You see how small the baby (cutie in grey) is compared with its mother (lady in pink)?!!

look at that mini dorsal fin ♥ :D

Greetings from a lovely Chinese White Dolphin with one of my favorite quotes. It's become our nature to rely on others to do the work and this applies to many other issues too. Animals cannot speak for themselves, so act now and join us in saving our precious wildlife before it's too late!

MERRY FLIPPERS!

Dearest Hong Kong Chinese White Dolphins & Finless Porpoises,

Merry MERRY Merry Christmas!



May your Christmas (and days ahead) be filled with lots of love, food, fun and splashes! Most importantly, I wish you all safe days to come, away from the dangerous people and engines of boats and ships that also roam monstrously around and in your habitat.

Love,

Christie

Dolphin Carnival!

呢排中華白海豚再一次俾左surprise我!!

話說我地如常係west同northwest Lantau做boat survey, 一開始已經勁多sightings. 但係好戲在後頭, 十幾又十幾條ge白海豚相繼出現, 而且仲要係超近距離到我地不斷係度做acoustic, 個情竟就好似我地先至係被observe ge subject, 白海豚用breaching包圍左我地!什至果d俾breaching撻死ge小魚伸手可及. 我地相機ge SD card都差唔多用曬, Samuel更跑去船頭同佢ge老朋友會合, 我都拍左好多video

算一算, 今日合計ge best group size estimation達到86!!!可以話果日係香港水域ge大部分海豚我地都見到了:)

希望遲d有機會見到神秘ge江豚!!