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