Second Chinese White Dolphin Carcass Found In A Week

The carcass of a Chinese white dolphin calf has been found in the waters off Lamma – the second stranding case involving the species in a week.

The carcass of the baby female dolphin was found on Monday. It measured just over a metre long, and has been taken to the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation so a necropsy can be carried out. The foundation added that there were no obvious injuries on the dolphin.

It's the 23rd stranding case reported to the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation this year, and the fourth involving a Chinese white dolphin.

A few days earlier, the body of a male calf was discovered in Tuen Mun. The foundation had said it had an injury to its left side, and a necropsy was also to be carried out to determine the cause of death.

Laurence McCook, WWF-Hong Kong's head of oceans conservation, said Chinese white dolphins face a number of interconnected threats – from habitat loss, to pollution, to marine traffic – but the deaths are tragic because these threats are well documented, and can be prevented.

"These deaths are just too common. There's been a 80 percent drop in the abundance of dolphins in Hong Kong waters over the past 15 years," he said.

The conservation group and collaborators put together an emergency action plan for dolphins in the Pearl River Delta, which they hope the public and authorities will get behind so the species can be protected.

Vincent Ho from the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society pointed out that there has not been a significant increase in the number of carcasses found in local waters, and the ones recently discovered may have drifted here from the mainland.

Nonetheless, he said there are fewer calf sightings in local waters – which shows just how difficult it will be for local populations to bounce back.

There are now currently an estimated 2,000 Chinese white dolphins in the Pearl River Delta.