Hong Kong’s white dolphins, finless porpoises face same threats on daily basis as whale found dead off Sai Kung, researchers warn
- City University team is building database to identify all 350 white dolphins found in city waters since 2020
- Animals susceptible to being trapped in abandoned fishing nets, hit by ship propellers and affected by noise from ship engines
When veterinary scientist Brian Kot Chin-wing went to Hong Kong’s western waters with a team of researchers last Tuesday, they spotted 20 white dolphins in six hours, including a calf believed to be less than two weeks old.
“Sometimes, we could only spot one,” said Kot, an assistant professor of diagnostic radiography at City University and principal investigator at its aquatic animal virtopsy lab.
The team of roughly a dozen has identified about 350 white dolphins in the city’s waters since 2020 and is building up a database to identify every one of them.
Kot said people should pay more attention to the species of dolphins that call Hong Kong home in light of the Bryde’s whale found dead off Sai Kung last month.
“The whale was a visitor, but our resident species – the Chinese white dolphin and finless porpoise – face all the same challenges as the whale every single day,” he said.
Both sea mammal species found in city waters are considered vulnerable species.
