Hi everyone! I am Leslie, the currently newest intern here and I am studying Environmental Conservation Studies in Baptist University CIE. Having joined HKDCS for more than two weeks, I have learnt and experienced a lot.  

In the past two weeks, I have learnt the methodology of different kinds of surveys via reading and my first-hand experiences of conducting surveys. In fact, the books in relation to methodology are somewhat hard for me, a beginner, to comprehend. After several times of doing research, I have sparked some questions in my mind and I am eager to find out the answers on my own through reading. This is why Samuel and Vincent encourage me a lot to read. By reading, I can build up a boarder sense and a better understanding of the biology of dolphins.

   

However, what comes as the most important thing that I have learnt is not about technical skills and knowledge. It is “learning how to learn”, which does not only benefit my internship programme, but also my academy and many different areas in my future. Being an intern, I shadow the survey team very often. Being observant and sensitive is very important. Also, asking questions is the key to learning. As here are many experienced and professional researchers who are welcome to teach me and I am sure that I can learn a lot from them.

That’s all for now. Many interesting things are to be explored and I will share them with you soon. Thanks!

Fresh Off the Boat

What's good, everybody!

Let me just quickly introduce myself: I'm HKDCS' newest intern, Justin! I'm from Hong Kong but I am currently studying mathematics and computer science in University of California, Berkeley. One might say that my field of study is completely unrelated to marine biology, let alone dolphins. One might even ask what my porpoise (pun intended) for doing this internship is.

I'm doing this internship mostly out of self-interest and in order to get a taste of the gruelling field of research. Though this project is mostly about environmental conservation and marine biology, as an aspiring academic, I think and know that this internship will no doubt show me how researchers work and how to conduct successful research. Moreover, the mathematical concepts I have learnt in school made me wonder if I can apply some of those methods and concepts into the field of cetaceans, specifically the Hong Kong dolphins and porpoises.

As a Hong Kong local, I am quite aware of the ongoing reclamation and the recent Link Road project. Hearing concerns about the effects of such projects on the coastal ecology of Hong Kong, I believe that it is crucial for us humans to assess the impacts of our actions if we want to conserve the environment. By joining this internship, I hope to help develop the growing field of conservation in Hong Kong.

I've been interning at HKDCS for almost a month now. Although both sea and land-based surveys are quite strenuous, I have been learning a lot shadowing under the staff here. With the literature Samuel provides in the office, I learned how line transect gathers information regarding distribution, abundance and habitat use while theodolite tracking is mostly used for tracking the movement of dolphins in relation to surrounding disturbances.

In fact, the first dolphin I saw during this internship was when we were conducting land-based survey in Sha Chau. The four of them were traveling together and I was surprised by their cohesiveness as a group. Their shapes and appearance were very spectacular, but what amazed me was how they socialize together and act as some kind of family most of the time. After that day, it became a lot easier to spot and observe dolphins. And the more I watch them, the more I admire their diverse behaviour.

While conducting these surveys, the staff here at HKDCS are always helpful and would gladly answer any of my questions to help me learn. Shadowing and keeping up with them is not an easy task. But over the past few weeks, I think I've gotten at least a little bit better. As I continue this internship, I'll no doubt utilize what they've taught me and try my best to help conserve the vast cetacean world of Hong Kong!

That's it for now!

Justin

All you'll ever need.

First month at HKDCS!

Hello Everyone!

            My name is Danielle and I am one of the new interns here at HKDCS! My internship here in Hong Kong will help give me the credit I need to complete my Master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) back at home in Montreal, Canada. I decided to apply for this internship as it perfectly integrates my passion for marine mammals with my academic interest in the EIA process. Here in HK there are so many on-going coastal development projects that it is amazing the dolphins and porpoises can survive in this environment. With all this development, it is imperative that the EIA system is applied properly in order to protect their habitat and conserve their populations.

            I’ve been here for approximately one month so far and I am amazed with how much I’ve learned in that short amount of time! I’ve learned how line-transect surveys are done in relation to cetacean research, how theodolite technology can be applied to track dolphins and their behavior, and finally I’ve learned about the different sorts of human disturbances that are currently threatening these cetaceans. Every day I learn something different, so it keeps the work very stimulating and very exciting!

            The first time I spotted a dolphin was actually on my very first boat outing! I was amazed by their beauty and also by their size! The first time I saw a mother-calf pair was also quite special – it’s heart-warming how the calf stays so close to his mother! Finally, the elusive finless porpoise is always so exciting to spot. I haven’t yet had a very good sighting of one (just a quick glimpse) so I’m very excited to go back out on a porpoise survey!

            Although, there is so much beauty here with these amazing creatures there are also many human disturbances that are affecting them as well. The day I saw a dead calf was a very sad day indeed! It was also very scary when I saw a dolphin inside a fishing net! Luckily he managed to find a way out and escaped!

            As beautiful as these creatures are they definitely need our help in face of all the threats they deal with. Interning here at the HKDCS has taught me so much and has given me a huge appreciation for conservation scientists. The staff here who work at HKDCS are wonderful people who really care a lot about cetaceans! I feel immensely lucky to not only be working with the dolphins and porpoises this summer, but also the great staff here at HKDCS as well!

            As I learn more and more this summer I’ll be sure to write again and update you all on the amazing experiences!

That’s it for now,

Danielle 

End of Internship

Hello again everyone!

The past month or so has been another busy month for everyone here at HKDCS! We have been out on the water rain or shine and it has started to get really warm! There is no shortage of sunscreen on the boat that is for sure! Michelle and I have even manage to get some really funky shoe tan lines.

This is what happens with you leave your phone out for 5 minutes with doing a land based survey at this time of the year!

The other day I went to Fan Lau for the very first time, we got to take a walla wall (speed boat) over and it was a lovely day for it. I think it was one of the hottest days yet that I've had here in Hong Kong and I was so grateful for the sun shade that we had set up.

Hiding from the hot sun

Boat ride to Fan Lau

We were really lucky while we were there, we had 6 separate groups of dolphins show up! This gave us lots to do with tracking the dolphins and the copious amounts of high speed ferries and ships that pass around Fan Lau. It also meant that at the end of the 6 hours tracking Michelle, Taison and myself got a chance to try and use the Theodolite. This proved to be a lot harder for all of us than expected. After a few goes tracking the high speed ferries became easier. However, the dolphins were much, much harder to track! I think I only got about 3 or 4 fixes in 40 minutes, and the lack of fixes was not due to the lack of dolphins :s. It certainly gave me a greater sense of respect for Perry, Leo and Vincent who are truly masters of the Theodolite!!

Perry operating the Theodolite

This month we also had a really lovely treat of going out to lunch as a team! This was to say goodbye to Jackin and Michelle who have both just left us to go to Vietnam and Canada. Lunch was a buffet and we all certainly did our best to eat as much as we could! I can without a doubt say it was the best meal I have had since being in Hong Kong! Thanks you very, very much Samuel! Here are a few pictures from lunch:

Michelle and her love for chocolate (and cheese)!! 

The team :)

The last two standing!

And the clear winner! Tony came to lunch fully prepared to eat more than anyone with that t-shirt on haha!

And the girls :)

Even though my internship is now over I am lucky enough to be staying on a little longer to help a graduate student with her PhD data. This will give me more time with the amazing people I have met while I have been here and more time to do what I can to help the amazing marine mammals here in Hong Kong. These mammals need all our help and what HKDCS is doing for them is invaluable! I am so grateful for the amazing experiences I have had while here and for everything that I have learnt from those around me (including the dolphins and porpoise :) )!

Thats all for now! Thanks again to everyone who made this experience so great!

Mairead :)

Promised Update!

Hello again everyone!

Just wanted to give you an update as promised!

The last two weeks have been very challenging for all of us here on the team! The weather has not been cooperating with us at all!!

                                                       Hong Kong Observatory

This is pretty much what the weather has looked like recently!! Rain, rain some more rain and a few thunder storms thrown in there too.

Despite this though we have all put on a brave face and been out there rain or shine (just not in the thunderstorms) completing out work!

The past day or two however, has been very pleasant I had a great day out at the airport yesterday with Karen and Leo working in the sun! We didn't see anything which did put a damper on the day but at least it wasn't raining!! :)

                                                  Mairead's Photo

This is me operating the computer by the water with the sun shining!

Some of the highlights and memorable events from the past few weeks:

-The other day we went out and did a boat survey in west Lantau. We had two great sightings of about 8-15 dolphins in each place! It had been over a week seen I had seen one of them and it was a welcomed sight!!

-At our second sighting in south west Lantau on the same day, however, we saw something very sad. A mother dolphin (spotted adult) was pushing around her dead baby with her rostrum. We got a few photos of the baby and it looked very small, possibly a still born. 

-Last friday we had a very similar situation, west of the airport we had another amazing sighting of 8 dolphins. After 30 minutes of watching them it became clear that there was another mother (spotted sub-adult) pushing around her dead calf. This calf looked much bigger and it is suspected that it died after birth. 

Both of these sightings last week are a very sad reminder that what we are doing is very important for the future of these amazing mammals and that they really do need ALL of our help!!

Well thats all for now! I will leave you to think about what you can do to help these amazing mammals and will post back again soon.

                                                                             Hong Kong Observatory

Wish us luck for this week!! We may have to deal with some more bad weather!!

Mairead 

My First Month in Hong Kong

Hey everyone!

My name is Mairead and I am currently the newest intern at HKDCS! I decided to apply for this internship to help with my decision as to whether or not I should go back to university and do my masters. So far I have been here a month and I am really enjoying myself! Each week and even day, is so different! Whether its a new survey area, a new weather condition to deal with or even a new type of survey it was been really amazing! It has been great to really get first hand experience as to what researchers do and how they go about doing it.

Because I have had so many different amazing experiences since I have been here I thought that I would just list a few of them to give you an idea of what I've been so lucky to experience;

1. The first time I saw a Porpoise was so cool! These mammals are so shy and are hard to see, so it was really exciting! I have found myself becoming more and more curious about them every time I am lucky enough to see them!

2. One day when we were out in Porpoise waters we saw Porpoise proposing! From the little we know about them this was considered totally out of character because as I said before they are considered to be such shy mammals!

3. My first dolphin sighting was a special moment for me, as I felt like I was really one of the team! I'd be lying if I said I didn't get excited and possibly jump up and down :D

4.The first time I saw a dolphin calf was also very special. It is amazing to see just how small they really are and it is great to see that renewal of life of these stunning mammals!

5. One day we were completely surrounded by Porpoise! I am talking about in ever direction and everywhere! There must have been about 25 of them surrounding us and it was awesome to see so many of them and to know that they are still out there :)

6. The people that I have met and have been lucky enough to work with while I have been here is a huge highlight! This whole experience would not have been the same without them. It has been great to learn from them, as they are so experienced, to see their passion for these amazing mammals and also to makes friends with them! Some of them are leaving us soon and I can already say that they will really be missed!

I could continue on for ages about all the great things I have seen and experienced while I have been here but I think I will leave it at that for now and will try and update you all again soon!

Mairead :)

８８ 香港!! (Bye bye, Hong Kong!)

Hello, world!

So, my time in Hong Kong has come to an end and I recently had to bid farewell to the dolphins. So sad!!! :-(  But it is okay.  I have almost 4 months of experiences that I can look back on and things were great even up to the end.  HKDCS seems to be at its peak season at the  moment and any interns coming in this year can expect themselves to have their hands quite full.

Since my last blog, much has been going on.  I finally got a chance to see more Finless Porpoises!!!  Also, the new projects have given us ample opportunities to see dolphins and spend more time with them when we're on the water, so that has been fun.  

It was the Chinese New Year recently (year of the snake!) so the team got together for an all-you-can-eat dinner and boy, oh boy did we eat!  After the dinner, us "youngsters" randomly decided to head out to the arcades, so the CNY/goodbye thing really turned into a big party.  When that wasn't enough, some of us also went out for karaoke the next day, so I was able to leave Hong Kong with plenty of giggles and good memories behind me.

Check out the fun below!

Finless porpoise!!  Not a nice head shot, but you can still see the ridge along it's back where a fin would have been.







Being a little silly on board.  But this is an example of what we do!  Tyson (far left) is taking pictures of the "dolphins" while Karen takes notes and Vincent makes a group estimate.  Ellis is spy-hopping and the pink chick is Michelle, who is a surfacing mother, while I'm the curious baby dolphin by her side :-)








Yet again being silly here, hahaha.

And the Japanese buffet for Chinese New Year!

As this is my final blog entry as an intern, I believe it is appropriate to make some remarks about the internship experience.  I have to say that this time in Hong Kong has served me well.  Even though I am not a cetacean-focused person, I learned yet another essential aspect for marine conservation as a whole.

In terms of the work, it's busy so here; there is always something going on and always something new.  As an intern, the work we do is mainly in the field, and then there's handling this blog and doing weekly reports.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but it can be a lot of work; and while Hong Kong has many attractions, I advise future interns to manage their time well.  Sometimes I would come home and feel really tired from the day, so nothing gets done at night; other times, I want to use a day off to explore and it would put me behind in things, so watch out future interns!

The intern's job still isn't much compared to what this team does as a whole, though.  Dolphin conservation is more than just jumping on a boat, looking for dolphins and charting out where they are--there is land-based work, behavioral studies, office work, math, report-writing, human relations, interactions with businesses, etc.  It amazes me to see Samuel hop on a boat, work with us for half a day, hop off for a meeting and then go home to work on a report while micromanaging us from afar via phone.  Other members of the team take their work home too. ... Talk about commitment!

Another thing I can say about this internship is what you learn.  I had no idea how complicated it could be, but dolphin research is indeed complicated.  I know I talk about how much fun it is, but this is still science and there is much that needs to get done before the sun goes down, so it needs to be done well.  For this reason, my first 3 weeks were spent just training.  And speaking of fun, I guess I should say that sometimes we get used to all these sightings and successful days, but there are still days when there is nothing going on.  When we don't see anything it is soooo boring!  Can you imagine just sitting and searching through waves for HOURS and just seeing NOTHING?!  And when it happens for a couple days in a week, everyone is sad and worried and it all seems hopeless.  But once we see a huge group again, everyone gets so excited and the  previous feelings are easily forgotten.  hahaha...

Well, I guess I'm taking up a lot of web space at the moment.  I think you get the gist of what can be expected if you choose to give HKDCS a try.  I truly wish the very best to anyone else who decides to take up this internship at HKDCS.  Perhaps I can return to Hong Kong again one day, but for now I will give it one wave of the tail for a goodbye.