Chinese White Dolphins Disappearing from Hong Kong Waters

By Matthew Bossons, July 6, 2017

The number of Chinese white dolphins appears to be dwindling in Hong Kong waters, according to recently released stats, with only 47 sightings of the cetacean between April 2016 and March 2017 off Lantau Island.

To put the 47 dolphin encounters in perspective, this is the lowest sighting number in the area since 2003 and a 27 percent decrease from the previous 12-month period, according to the 2016/17 Marine Mammals Monitoring Report released by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD).

The Chinese white dolphin was not sighted in the waters off northeast Lantau for the second consecutive year. Some have suggested the mammal’s absence in this marine zone is linked to the ongoing construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

A Chinese white dolphin found dead on Neilingding Island, in Shenzhen, back in September 2015

The troublingly low number of sightings calls into question the effectiveness of efforts to save the Chinese white dolphin in the area the species was first documented in English by explorer Peter Mundy in 1637.

Ten years ago there were an estimated 2,500 Chinese white dolphins in the Pearl River Delta area, but that number has dropped significantly, with a representative at the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society saying construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge has taken a heavy toll.

Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society chairman, Dr. Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, has called on the government to enact a marine sanctuary in the western waters of Lantau, in the hopes of protecting the species’ declining numbers, according to hk01.com.

Cetaceans have had a rough year in China, particularly in the south of the country. Not only are they being imported in droves, especially to Guangdong, to satisfy China's growing water theme park industry, but they are also seemingly perishing en masse in the nation's coastal waters.

In March alone, a 20-ton whale was found dead off of the coast of Shanghai, a pregnant sperm whale died in Guangdong just days before it may have given birth and, perhaps most gristly, a decapitated Chinese white dolphin was being sold at a wet market near Zhuhai.

There was also the baby porpoise found dead in southern Guangdong in February. Clearly not the year of the cetacean in China.

With files from Sky Gidge, Connor Frankhouser.

[Images via shughal.com, Xinhua]