HKDCS Interns' Blog: Days with the Dolphins

In this summer, being a part of Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society I learnt more than what I could expect. It was certainly an inspiring and fulfilling research experience, which guided the way for my future path and career. Doing boat and land surveys required great physical and mental efforts, as there were days we encountered tough weather, and there were days we had zero sighting. Every sighting moment of Chinese White Dolphins and Finless Porpoises became precious and means so much to us. Watching them dancing, twirling and spinning in the big blue ocean enlightened my spirit and motivated me to protect them. In fact, at the same time it saddened me to notice that they were under numerous threats in Hong Kong waters. The staff members at HKDCS continue to collect distribution data of Hong Kong cetaceans and are dedicated to arouse public awareness in the conservation of Chinese White Dolphins and Finless Porpoises, as well as cetaceans in other countries. It seems powerless for me to speak for the protection of cetaceans, as corporate interests and government decisions are far beyond what I can control, but I believe we together can make a better world with kindness, beauty, and truth. Here I am sharing my internship experience with all my sincerity, in the hopes of spreading the words for those intelligent creatures.

“Two months would be passed in the twinkling of an eye, and the knowledge and technique we teach to every single intern is fairly similar. Yet, your attitude and action is the key factor of how much you could gain. Hopefully you may treasure the opportunity for working here.” Sitting at the office before signing the internship contract, here was the sentence said by Samuel, the president of Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, which went into my heart and gave me courage to learn more from the team in the past two months.

Meeting a Dead Calf on the First Boat Trip

The journey actually began on June 18, 2015. I went on a boat survey for an interview, which was conducted in West and Southwest Lantau waters. Standing at the top of the boat, I was holding a pair of binoculars and trying to scan for the dolphins. It was a tough morning, as the sea was shining so bright that it hurt my eyes and the sun was burning my skin. On the spur of the moment, a Chinese White Dolphin rose up on the sea surface, and shortly afterwards, we were surrounded by them. As if they knew that we would not hurt them, they came so close to us and swam across under our boat. It was stunning that they were breaching, spy-hopping and tail-slapping in front of us, and I feasted my eyes on observing their movements. After the group of dolphins left, we discovered a grey object floating in the sea, and an adult dolphin was staying beside it. My heartbeat underwent sudden alter, when the grey object was confirmed to be a dead dolphin calf. The dolphin next to the calf, undoubtedly was the mother, repeatedly dragged it underwater, trying to protect her calf even though it was already dead. To avoid threatening the dolphin, we decided to drive away our boat. Samuel told me it was a grieving process for highly intelligent mammals, but it was unusual for the dolphin to react in this aggressive way. It was upsetting to realize the fact that firstborn calves commonly die from the bio-accumulation of chemical contaminants in the milk of their mothers. After this day, I could not stop thinking about the dead calf, I could not fall asleep that night and I could not even let myself eat any meat for sometime. It was heart-breaking to watch the mother dolphin mourn for her dead calf after encountering a group of playful dolphins breaching in front of us.

I am worried for these beautiful and innocent creatures living in the sea, as their decline are directly linked with human activities. Fortunately, I know there are lots of non-profit organisations trying their best to save the life of the cetaceans, and I am glad that I could work with the members at HKDCS and other interns at World Wide Fund. Their passion and determination enlighten my spirit and strengthen my mind.

Meeting at the Book Fair
In the beginning of the internship, I participated in the book fair held annually at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre. When I was selling books at the booth of the Society of Hong Kong Nature Explorers, I got to see that there were lots of activists and authors conveying conservation messages to the public, and taking actions to protect nature and wildlife in Hong Kong.
Ray was one of the authors there, who organized night trips to observe amphibians and reptiles. Through joining the trips I was inspired to see things from the perspectives of the wildlife, and I was glad to see the natural beauty in the darkness of Hong Kong. I realize that lots of wildlife, such as buffalo, wild boar and snake, are actually misunderstood by the public. It is rare for them to hurt human out of no reason, instead, humans are usually the ones who try to harm them in the first place.

Booth of the Society of Hong Kong Nature Explorers

Books about the nature in Hong Kong Natural beauty in the darkness

Days on the Sea

Most of the time we stayed on the boat and conducted survey through line transect method, so as to estimate the population of Chinese White Dolphin and Finless Porpoise in Hong Kong waters. When we got a sighting, we had to estimate the group size, identify group composition and behaviours of the dolphins, as well as taking photos or videos for later identification. Apart from practising the sighting skills, I also broadened my knowledge in geography and navigation aspects. In truth, lots of things happened every day on the boat, and the feelings from my heart were so strong and complicated, making it so hard for me to put them into words. I was not a person good at explaining myself; however, I tried to write daily journals to remember all the stories that happened. For the first time I saw a porpoise when I was using a pair of binoculars scanning the sea, I screamed out loud, got so excited, but the porpoise was so shy that it just showed up for a few seconds; For the first time I heard the whirring noise of the flying fishes, they passed by our boat group by group, with a sense of joy and freedom; For the first time I smelled the taste of dried shrimps, laying on the fishing boat closely passed by us, and the fishermen were skilfully handling them under the sunny weather; For the first time I did snorkeling in Ung Kong Wan, a beautiful place to visit at the south of Sai Kung Peninsula, and Leon showed me a White ribbon eel beside the corals; For the first time I felt like I belong to the sea, looking at the dolphins and hearing them singing the most touching songs, I wished I could jump off the boat and swim with them. I wanted to thank Viena, Taison, Leon, Vincent and Samuel for giving me such joyful moments and teaching me lots of things more than I could have imagined. The other two interns, Sam and Kar Long, were passionate partners. I could still remember the smiling eyes on Sam’s face when she saw a dolphin, and her sadden face when we talked about the coastal development destroying their habitat. At the same time, I was impressed that Vincent could distinguish the dolphin individuals at a glance, and I really appreciated the generosity of Captain Chan, that when I was exhausted on the boat he always gave me something to eat or drink. The boating life was really tough, and we had to stay focused even when the beaufort scale was greater than three. We got roasted under the burning sun, got soaked in the crying rain, and got blown by the howling winds for many times. Nevertheless, I believed every cloud has a silver lining, and the unpredictable sea always gave us some surprises. When we got to see the dolphins jumping out freely from the sea, we smiled from the deepest part of our hearts.

Dolphins Surfacing

The sounds of the dolphins

A group of playful dolphins swam under our boat

Days on the hills
Some of the days we conducted land-based surveys at Tai-O and Shum Wat, and those days were even more exhausting than the boat surveys. Sam, Kar Long, and I cooperated with the interns from World Wildlife Fund on the days at Tai-O. To investigate whether the dolphin watching boats caused a negative impact on the dolphins, we observed the interaction between them and recorded the dive time of the dolphins. It was hard for us to observe the Walla-Walla while keeping track of a specific dolphin. With more practising, we finally found out the way to do multiple tasks there. Thanks to Michelle for buying food for us at the station when we were sweating heavily. I could still remember one day we saw a very playful dolphin, which kept spy-hopping near the shore for the whole day, Sam, Zabrina and I had so much fun watching it; I could still remember one day we encountered heavy rain, Zabrina, Kar Long and I ran slowly through the slippery road, bending our body when the thunder was hitting really close to us. There are actually so much more to say, but instead of writing them all down, I choose to remember them in the bottom of my heart.

The other scenes in Tai-O

Shum Wat was another land-based station twenty minutes on foot from the main town in Tai-O. On the way hiking uphill, there were lots of spider webs and it was fun to watch each other’s face hitting the webs accidentally. At the station I learnt to get the sighting angle using the theodolite, and inputting the theodolite data into the laptop. On the days there I saw oil spills and tons of trash on the sea surface, and I felt worried for the lifelihood of Chinese White Dolphins in Hong Kong waters. While suffering the impact of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge construction, they are also facing many threats from different aspects, including over-fishing and underwater noise pollution. The biggest threat they are going to face is the developmental construction of third runway north of the existing airport. The construction will reclaim 650 hectares of dolphin habitats, which may lead to the disappearance of Chinese White Dolphins from Hong Kong waters in the future.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge

Last but not least
In this summer, I got sun-burnt and tanned and exhausted, but I had not the slightest regret for working with the members from Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society. Samuel, Vincent, Leon, Viena, Taison were trying their best to conserve the cetaceans despite the fact that there were lots of obstacles out of their control, and I was impressed by their strong focus under the adverse weather. I had never imagined that dolphins could bring me that much motivation through their smile, their sounds, and their movements, and I wished to be like them, swimming freely in the big blue ocean. On the other hand, it was upsetting to see Chinese White Dolphins and Finless Porpoises struggling to live due to anthropogenic causes. Our actions every day are affecting the ocean which connects to all of us. I believe that human beings and all the living creatures in the world can, and should, live together in a harmonious manner. May the joyous spirits of Chinese White Dolphins and Finless Porpoises keep glowing and gleaming in the future, with the change from all of us together.