Researchers have reported that last year they had spotted a lot more pink dolphins than usual in the Hong Kong waters (Guardian, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic might have made us spend more time at home but for the Hong Kong pink dolphins, it has meant quite the opposite. The number of people travelling between Hong Kong and Macau reduced greatly, allowing the dolphins to have more space to roam around, play, and socialise.
There are around 2,500 pink dolphins, also known as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins or Chinese white dolphins, in the Pearl River estuary (WWF Hong Kong, n.d.). In Hong Kong waters, there are approximately 32 dolphins that typically keep to the shore due to the noise from the ferry traffic between Hong Kong and Macau (Hong Kong Free Press, 2020).
The pink dolphins are ranked as a “Grade 1 National Key Protected Species” in China, and are protected in Hong Kong with both the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance and the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plant Ordinance policies. Thus, even when the pandemic is over and traffic returns to normal, we should use this experience to improve the living habitat for the pink dolphins, and allow for their number to keep increasing.
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