Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

Habitat Protection for Cetaceans around the World 385
Notes and rationale For more information
• Rationale is to protect the habitat of the ‘pink dolphins’. • Würsig, 1995; Morton, 1996
• When the park was established in 1996, Brian Morton declared • Contact: Tom Jefferson;
‘the proposal to establish a marine park sanctuary at Lung Kwu email: Sclymene@aol.com;
Chau and Sha Chau is … largely a political decision and will • More information:
probably not work as the dolphin population is already considered web:
to be non-viable and the threats to its habitat can only increase.’ http://parks.afcd.gov.hk/
As of 2003, the dolphins were holding their own, although more newparks/chi/index.htm
protective measures and enforcement would help ensure a future • Samuel Hung, Hong Kong
for the dolphins here. Dolphin Conservation
• Problems include considerable shipping traffic from one of world’s Society;
busiest harbours, with oil barges and dredging inside park email:
boundary (from building the airport) and (largely untreated) urban
sewage and industrial effluents; one outfall is within half a
kilometre of the park.
• Regulations prohibit high-speed watercraft, trawling and sports
fishing, although there are some abuses.
• This MPA is considered insignificant and a sham by those who
want a larger area with real protection; still, the MPA has helped
alert many to the dolphins’ plight.
samuel@hkdcs.org
• Several conservation areas have been set up specifically to help • Contact: Prof Huang
protect Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins. These areas were Zhongguo, Third Inst of
approved at the provincial level in 1997 and at the national level in Oceanography;
Apr 2000. email: hzg@public.xm.fj.cn
• This natural protected freshwater area was set aside specifically • Contact: Tom Jefferson;
to protect the endangered baiji.
• Recently, two ‘semi-natural’ reserves have been added at other
points along the river at Shishou and Tong Ling. Because these are
partly ‘captive’ and heavily managed areas, they are not considered
in separate entries. Indeed, the wisdom of bringing additional baiji
in from the wild to these semi-captive situations is questioned by
many researchers and conservation groups.
email: Sclymene@aol.com
• In 1999 this proposal with the sizes described at left received • Contact: Huang Chuangprovincial
approval (Guangdong Province) to make it a national Liang, Ocean and Fisheries
park with regulations to protect the dolphins. However, researchers Dept, Resources and
have suggested much larger areas for a dolphin sanctuary – Environment Div;
at least five times as large with even more substantial buffer zones email: gdsczz@
(Duyuan and Qingchao, 1996). Another proposal (Simard, 1995) public.guangzhou.gd.cn
recommended an MPA covering the entire Zhujiang (Pearl River) • Tom Jefferson;
delta to protect subtropical estuarine ecosystems including email: Sclymene@aol.com
wetland, mangroves and islands (this proposal was rated as one • Samuel Hung, Hong Kong
of the six highest regional priorities for the NW Pacific). Dolphin Conservation
• Problems include extensive shipping, commercial fishing, dredging Society;
of marine sand for reclamation projects, and sewage disposal email:
from several large cities. samuel@hkdcs.org