Hi everybody! I am Tiffany, a new intern who
joined the HKDCS since the beginning of October. Few months ago, I completed my science
undergraduate program in Waterloo, Canada and was thinking whether I should
pursue a Master’s degree. As a biology student, I have explored various topics
in this field and found that the research done on marine biology and
conservation is something which interests me all along. I decided to get more research experience through
this internship and have a better idea of how my career path will be like.
Time flies and I am starting my fourth
week with HKDCS already. I felt great to have learned and experienced so much
in such a short time. From understanding how land-based and boat surveys were
conducted, I realized that communication between team members is very important
to gather accurate research data. I got a taste of being an observer and
operator during line-transect surveys, acoustic boat surveys and theodolite tracking.
Given that I have little experience in field work research, everything was new
to me. However, things worked out easily
as the staff was exceptionally helpful and nice. Thanks everyone!!! In the past
few weeks, I have seen how the living environment of the cetaceans is
threatened by all the busy marine traffic and construction work happening right
now. It is surprising how they can survive in these waters. I hope I can learn
more about these amazing marine mammals and how they can be protected.
Right from the start, I was very fortunate
to see several groups of Chinese white dolphins on my first day, including a
few pairs of mother and calf which I could hardly forget. This was something I
have not expected and was very memorable :) It made me excited whenever I see the dolphins
and hopefully I can get to see the finless porpoise as well by the end of my
internship. Last week, I saw a well-known dolphin called Ringo which
is easy to spot with the scar around his neck. I was told that Ringo might have
got his scar when he was caught in a fishnet earlier in his years and outgrew
from it later. This evidence is important in showing the impact of human
activities had on the dolphins and made me think more deeply in what we can do
to reduce these adverse outcomes.
(Can you see Ringo?)
That’s all for now. Hope there will be more updates soon.
Cheers,
Tiffany
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