Chinese White Dolphin
The Chinese White Dolphin Issue
The water bodies adjacent to the New Airport are home to a rare species of dolphin, the Chinese White dolphin. The colour of the ' white' dolphins are in fact bright bubblegum pink. The species, Sousa chinensis is believed to be between 85 to 200 remaining in Hong Kong water. They live close to shore, hardly ever venturing more than 1 kilometre from land or into water deeper than 10 m. The dolphins inhabit the shallow waters off North Lantau and in the clear waters around nearby islands e.g. Sha Chau. The AFD and AA, have taken actions on the conservation of the Dolphin including establishing a dolphin sanctuary, using of bubble curtain during noisy construction activities in marine waters conducting further studies etc.
Establishment of a Dolphin Sanctuary
The aim of establishing a dolphin sanctuary is to prevent any activities which might be detrimental to the health and welfare of the dolphins. No one shall fish or hunt, remove any animal or plant or carry out water-skiing in a marine park. Fishing would be prohibited except for those activities which are considered to be sustainable and non-destructive conducted by genuine fisherman. Trawling, spear fishing, fishing with poison or dynamite or electric charges are prohibited. Also, manual activities would be banned including fish culture, damage to any shoreline feature, and operating power-driven vessels exceeding 10 knots. The dolphine sanctuary is established as a marine park and its area is about 1,200 ha which is 20 % larger than the estimated lost of 1,000 ha marine habitat by the airport platform. The draft map of the sanctuary was gazetted in Apr., 96. In Nov.,96, the marine park was designated.
