Intern Veronica: 3rd Week

Greetings again!

I've concluded my third week at HKDCS and all is well.  The other day, it was my first official tryout for observing and I was lucky to get two dolphin sightings in a row (I still missed a few, though :-P).  

When I say lucky, I really do mean it, by the way.  These dolphins can be anywhere at any given time.  Yes, they are resident species, but they can be together or alone, following a shrimp trawler, hanging out near an island, or riding a wave somewhere.  Looking for dolphins isn’t like tracking deer in a forest; this is a much bigger area and there aren't that many of them, after all.  When surveying, there is no set day for where we go or which day we go, and dolphins don't have a Monday through Friday schedule either.  Starting our trip from the west or the east, and sitting down and looking to the left first with the naked eye or to the right with binoculars and at that same exact moment catching a dolphin surfacing is all a result of chance.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like we have trouble finding dolphins—this team seems to do quite well at that—but because we are all aware of this chance, whenever we do see a dolphin, we get pretty excited about it. :-)

I think that’s what I like about cetacean research.  It seems like no one here ever tires of a dolphin sighting.  With normal day-to-day, 9-to-5 jobs, daily events can be pretty repetitive and boring, but when dealing with animals, every event feels new and refreshing.  I think it is because of this feeling that I am reminded of why I enjoy the kind of work I've been doing and why I wanted to give cetacean work a try.

...Since we’re talking about luck, I have to say that Hong Kong is lucky to have cetaceans along these waters just outside their cities.  I mean, take a look at Hong Kong’s landscape:

Except for the mountains in the background, it kind of looks like New York City, doesn’t it?  It’s surprising that marine megafauna are still here!  Hong Kong is a busy place with not only busy streets, but busy waterways, as well.  Yet, with all this development and land reclamation that’s going on, it won’t be luck that keeps the dolphins here for much longer.  Conservation and management schemes will be what keep them around in the near future.   

The countdown to the end of trawling in these waters has already begun (end of 2012), but that’s only a start.  If no other actions are done, people will begin counting down to the end of these lovely creatures, too.

One other thing: I still haven’t seen a Finless Porpoise yet!!  Oh well.  Better luck next time!  Hahaha

Over and out.