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Introduction

Introduction
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006

June 25-30, 2006 - Hong Kong
by Mike Ezawa

Hong Kong, a major tourist magnet, a city known for its crowds and buzzing nightlife and noise, may rank among the world’s busiest, packed, and environmentally unclean places that people periodically visit. 

This week, I have paid this famed city a visit.  The primary purpose for my stay here is to see how this polluted area affects the ocean wildlife near it.  In a city filled with busy, chaotic streets and ongoing ship and ferry traffic in the waters, it logically does not bode well for the dolphins or other marine mammals who dwell nearby.

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

This is my first full day here in Hong Kong.  I spent the night here.  It is incredibly busy in the streets and on the sidewalks during the later hours.  Sometimes the people here can be restless.  It seems as though every other person you run into is trying to sell you something.  But, the biggest concern right now is the air quality.  I can honestly and non-hesitantly say that it is very poor, for obvious reasons.  You should see the amount of busses used here in Hong Kong; it dwarfs those of New York City in some places.  No doubt the huge vehicles contribute greatly to the deteriorating status of the environment.

This morning I took a walk along a place called the “Avenue of Stars”, located in the very southern areas of the Tsim Sha Tsui district (right across from Hong Kong island itself), to photograph the waters here and the city’s mammoth buildings as well.  You don’t have to go very far to see that the ocean here is an unclean, or even hazardous place to live.

A fleet of huge ships sits in the harbor near the Promenade.  From here they do not appear to be in current use, but rather left there to leak chemicals into the water.		Construction right by the water is clearly contaminating the ocean, as frankly-put as this hazard warning sign illustrates.

Since there is so much boat traffic here, there is an obvious reason for concern.  The harbor is constantly buzzing with the engines and emissions of the traffic atop the water.  Ferries are commonly used by tourists here to get from one section of the city to another.  The lines to get in are usually long and there’s no telling how much damage years and years of this sort of transport has done to the oceans of the area.

You don’t see this severe an extent of water pollution around most of the United States, as Americans are not as reliant on boats as the people of Hong Kong.

Ferries in Hong Kong Harbor

But, unfortunately, there’s much more than just boats and air contamination of the environment in Hong Kong, but additionally trash dumping in the waters of the city.  Seemingly endless amounts of discarded soda cans, plastic bags, candy wrappers, and all-around random junk have made their way into the ocean via human disposal.  Even more unfortunate, Hong Kong is not the only city guilty of such things.

If there was any saving grace about seeing the amount and extent of the trash-dumping in the ocean, it is that the city does have boats which clean up the most environmentally-damaging objects in the sea, and then disposes of them properly.  Just after I took the two photos above and observed the pollution present, I saw a small boat scurrying about the harbor, netting (what I saw) plastic materials, loose fishing lines, large trash items, and other smaller and potentially harmful objects.  It left me with a good impression that perhaps something can in fact be done.

Dolphins Used in Advertisements

When you’re walking around near the subway systems, the downtown sidewalks, and the ferry docks, it’s clear that dolphins primarily above other marine mammals are used in advertising for products, even if the intended item of purchase is in no way related to the animals themselves.

Naturally, it is concerning when one looks at all the things present; all the companies that utilize dolphins as well as other animals to promote themselves.  It may not appear a harmful detail just yet upon first sight, but look at the big picture.  Any advertisement that sports a picture of a dolphin will catch people’s eyes, even if it is merely for a split second.  Why?  Because we, in general, as humans, absolutely adore them.

However, our species’ natural affection for dolphins has, paradoxically, and sadly, wound up hurting them.

There are some things we as humans must inevitably ask ourselves:  do we truly appreciate these animals for who they are, how they are meant to live their lives, and how crucial their surroundings are to their future, or do we enjoy them just because they give us a sense of relaxation and power from time to time?

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Monday, June 26, 2006

The city is very different in the morning from how it is after sunset.  Less people, for obvious reasons, as the crowds recuperate from the previous night’s activities.  This morning I took a walk around the main streets of the city.  It’s a whole different animal at night.  And, the air seems much more brisk in the early hours.  The big busses have yet to fully awaken.

One of the things I’ve noticed time and time again while walking along the “Avenue of Stars” walkway just a nudge south of my hotel is that no one swims in the water here.  People, as it turns out, aren’t stupid, but rather, they’re just terribly ignorant.  I’ve seen people wearing facemasks when they walk near the water.  It’s not a very uplifting sight.  People do seem to be aware of their own health, but display complete disregard for the condition of the waters they live near.

Tomorrow, I visit a place called “Ocean Park.”  It is an amusement park sort of place, where dolphins, who were taken from Japanese waters, put on shows for huge crowds of viewers.  I will capture video footage of the show, and describe them for you following my visit. Of course, the shows are weather-permitting, but hot, clear skies in the forecast should not cancel out the performance.

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

“Ocean Park” is my day’s destination; in the southern part of Hong Kong island, slightly tucked away in mountains, a common tourist site.  I’m headed there to not only get footage of the marine mammal show, as mentioned, but also look at the park itself.  For a pair of young dolphins kept in a small pool for the purpose of commercial entertainment, having to deal with cacophony like bumper cars, park rides such as “Abyss – Turbo Drop”, “Dragon”, “Crazy Galleon”, and “Space Wheel”, and even rock bands, must be torturous. 

All this doesn’t even touch upon the fact that the dolphins must perform three times a day, within a span of 3½ hours on most days.  Do the math.  These dolphins are forced to do back-flips and other stunts, some of them eerily dangerous, 21 times per week.

Ocean Park

Prelude
“Intelligent dolphins and adorable sea lions team up with their trainers to amaze the crowds.  Get your seats while you still can.  It’s a hugely popular marine mammal spectacular.”

Dolphins have become an international trade icon.  Tourists young and old will pay hundreds just to see them performing tricks in cement tanks, or swimming about in confinement in places like aquariums and even tiny “seapens” little more than the size of a hot tub.  Indeed, ironically and tragically, our love for them as playful, intelligent beings and as friendly, curious companions has led the captivity industry into, ultimately, harming them as a species.  The nation of Japan is among the world’s most persistent captors and killers of dolphins; one of their main locations of transaction in the dolphin trade is China.  Some of the dolphins in Ocean Park in Hong Kong have come from the Japanese drive hunts.

Understandably, many can be misled by the appearance of the animals at shows and amusement parks.  While they appear to be enjoying themselves, leaping around in five-foot-deep pools of water, jumping through fiery hoops, and gracefully performing premeditated circus tricks, one must keep a number of things in mind.

A)  If the dolphins do not perform the tricks wanted by the trainers at the shows, it has been observed in some places that they do not get fed.  An alarming amount of captive marine mammals, especially dolphins, have died of starvation historically.

B)  Think about where they originally spent their lives – captive dolphins once dwelt in a massive ocean expanse; but now their secondary existence is spent in a miniscule tank, at times void of sunlight, tremendously dwarfed in size by their former homes.  Imagine what it must be like – being forced to adapt to that drastic a change.  It would be a burden for a human, and imagine the effects it would have on a dolphin, who would be completely overwhelmed by such changes.

C)  “For your entertainment, there are live band performances each day at Conservation Square and prior to each Ocean Theatre show.”
 
The noise.  Screaming crowds; an on-running tank filtration system; the atmosphere of an amusement park at times; and now, a rock band booming out deafening riffs near their home; it is another harsh shift of their environment.  In the wild, many dolphins live along shorelines where the most prominent noise is that of the occasional boat cruising along the waves.

D)  Companionship, or lack thereof.  Dolphins sought for captivity are ripped away, many times very brutally, from their ocean families and pods.  The younger dolphins are especially prized by the captivity trade, as younger animals will tend to live longer.  If a calf dolphin is torn from its mother, it is helpless.  Young dolphins are completely reliant on their mothers at the time when they are usually wanted for capture.  And, almost all the time, the mother and calf are separated.  It has been reported that a 75% mortality rate has occurred with captive dolphins in the past.

Above is an advertisement for the “Ocean Park.”  Visible in it are the dolphins as well as two seals, notably performing their concocted circus tricks to amuse a large crowd of people.  These Japan-originated dolphins have endured much to present us, the viewers, with these acts.  Firstly, note that these dolphins are lucky just to still be alive.

The drive hunts that capture the dolphins are extremely brutal.  Many dolphins are killed just by the sheer stress of the process, even if they are, in the end, released.  Those who are caught are, as mentioned, young, or look the least harmed.  Females are also especially pursued; they are considered the easiest to train for the shows.

Sometimes, unspeakably, those dolphins who were not seen as fit to train are slaughtered, and the fishing industry sells their meat, which is often times intentionally mislabeled as “whale.”

My log of the “Ocean Park” trip:

6:02 AM – The clouds are gathering overhead.  As the dolphin shows are weather-permitting, there is a slight, but very unlikely chance, that there could be a cancellation.  But, as there are three shows, I may simply need to switch to another show from my intended 1:30 visit.  However, with scattered thunderstorms in the forecast, throughout the entire afternoon, the concern is rising I may not be able to get the video I need.  However, to put things in a different point of view, if there is no show today, the dolphins at the park will not need to perform.  Ultimately, that would be the best solution.  The chance of precip is 50%.

8:22 AM – I am now on the CityBus bound for Ocean Park.  The bus departs at nine; the park opens at ten.  At the moment, the crowd here is very light on this double-decked vehicle.

8:31 AM – The bus has started, surprisingly early.  Not too many people on board, as it is the earliest ride.

9:03 AM – I have arrived at Ocean Park.  Still an hour till the tickets go on sale and the park opens to the public.  It is clearly a place designed for young children or small school groups, like one I saw enter previously.  Two locations I intend to visit are “Dolphin University” and “Ocean Theatre.”  Dolphin University gives the visitors a chance to “have a close encounter with the amazing dolphins.”  I will likely visit D.U. first.

10:10 AM – The park, at last, opened up for public entry at 9:55 or so.  I immediately walked up to the “Dolphin University” soon as I stepped forth in the park.  There were five pools.  One pool contained a not much more than three feet of water.  I photographed it; and then the manager of the place spotted me and hastily shooed me and my camera away (I have placed the picture below).  How I snuck in there so easily is unknown to me; the most likely reason is that a group of schoolchildren were getting lectured about the animals kept here, and I managed to just sneak by.

A captive bottlenose dolphin swims around in three-foot-deep water at “Dolphin University” at Ocean Park.

11:06 AM – I’m sitting here at the Ocean Theatre; it looks as though there will be a show after all.  At this point, I see five dolphins swimming around here.  The trainers appear to be conditioning them; getting them ready for the upcoming show.  An employee told me there was no admission fee.  Just now I saw a trainer surfing the water atop the backs of two fast-swimming bottlenoses.  Still have two hours before the show.  In the time prior to the performance, while the dolphins are not being prepared for their act, they are kept in separate, very small pools, grouped in twos or threes.  My guess is that they are divided according to trainer.  The pools can’t be much more than 12 feet by 12 feet in size.  To the trainers’ credit, the dolphins here (unlike some other places) look well-cared for and loved, but still nevertheless look strangely lonely.  They don’t touch and rub affectionately here as much as has been noted in the wild.  I have the current impression that these dolphins, however well-attended to they may be, miss their old homes.  In the background, three banging loud roller coasters, the “Eagle” is almost directly behind the dolphin facility.  Then, behind that, the “Abyss”, which features a long drop and dozens of screaming visitors.  And then a typical roller coaster ride circling the two of them.

11:51 AM – Now the dolphins are swimming circles in their diminutive tanks.  The confines are so small – it is tough to imagine the possibility that these energetic dolphins could spend most of their present lives in a place like this.  Seeing the animals trying to enjoy themselves despite these shrunken surroundings is surely a tear-jerker, and makes it even more difficult to think of how they can live like this for so long.  And it makes it even more difficult to think of how people worldwide could kill them for financial incentives.

Six bottlenose dolphins are separated into the two pools in the background. From this appearance, they spend most of their lives in there.

12:09 PM – Music starts playing overhead.  People are starting to slowly gather to the Ocean Theatre.  The show is still over an hour away, but people are scrapping to find their seats.  The staff is starting to set up the audio for the pre-show band performance.  Microphones are being instituted in a small area in front of the pool evidently designed specifically for the trainers.

1:12 PM – The place is beginning to fill up.  There is a tremendous amount of conversation and screaming, and the music is getting louder. Dealing with this for hours and hours daily can only make things more difficult for the dolphins.  The band, a Latin-American band rallies the crowd; the sound reverberates throughout the facility, shaking the speakers, pummeling the waters where the dolphins await their daily work.

1:30 PM – The show begins.  The dolphins zip into the big pool from small entrances in their respective pools.  The crowd gets intensely excited; the children cheer rabidly; the ranting of “oos” and “ahs” starts.  Athletic back-flips, twisting mid-air acrobatics, and lightning-fast movements bedazzle the dolphins’ audience.  Following each successful trick, a tasty fish reward.  Indeed, the dolphins are extremely talented, and there’s no doubt the crowd was thoroughly amazed by their abilities. 

1:55 PM – The show comes to a close.  The dolphins playfully wave us all good-bye with their tail flukes, their trainers alongside, seeing us off with a more conventional wave.  I stared back while the majority of the crowd was leaving their seats.  The trainers put the dolphins back into their pools.  A twenty-five minute show is the only occasional freedom they get from those places, apparently.  While the dolphins did appear to be enjoying their duties, as they are known to fancy showing off their skills to people, I was left with a sense of wonder.  For such intelligent and gentle beings such as these dolphins, do the memories of their past in the open sea shadow over what they have become – tourist magnets?  Do they look back on those earlier times and wish they were back there with their original families?  From the perspective I got, both questions donned the answer “yes.”

3:00 PM – I return to Dolphin University after watching the show and baking in the sun.  There is a group of five or so bottlenoses in the main pool by the entrance.  The pool I saw earlier with three feet of water is not open for public entry.  The trainers welcome photos of the animals in the primary pool.  I came within two feet of one of the dolphins, who lifted himself up from the water, as if posing to be in one of my pictures.  They certainly do love attention, and I believe they recognized the camera flashes as photo opps to show off their quick breaches and look at me, eye-to-eye, mammal-to-mammal, equal-to-equal.  It was an incredible sight, and an incredible feeling to be the one they wanted some attention from.

3:20 PM – I leave Ocean Park, with two cameras full of pictures and/or videos and a good ending feeling, but, one must continually ask, is this where they really belong?  To my admission, the trip was incredibly fulfilling and it was a very heartwarming experience being so close to a bottlenose dolphin, while he looked at me and waited for me to take his picture.  But one must be willing to make these sacrifices, take away his or her own wants, and decide upon what is mutually best for the dolphins.  Captivity, however enticing it may be for people, is not the answer.

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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Today, I’m headed north a bit to go dolphin-watching.  The dolphins found near Hong Kong, Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins, are pink, and are rare throughout the world, which is why this is such a distinct opportunity.  Unfortunately, they are fast disappearing from these waters, as the city’s extensive pollution issues have severely impacted their natural habitats.  The ocean water near Hong Kong can be toxic; and these marine mammals live very close to the main islands, which puts them at direct risk.

There is a trace of a storm here right now, which the dolphins tend to love, as it gives them the chance to surf more active waves with less effort.

Hong Kong’s Pink Dolphins

Background

The Chinese Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins, Sousa chinensis, is a very rare species of dolphin, and is found exclusively in waters from South Africa to China and also northern areas of Australia.  They live close to coastlines, and those found in the eastern zone (like Hong Kong) tend to dwell near estuaries and river mouths.

Very few people knew anything about these dolphins, and their identity was essentially hidden from the world, until their existence was brought into focus when, in the early 90s, an island called Chek Lap Kok was leveled and turned into an airport.  This creation of mankind glorified by engineers and even The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” was extremely devastating for the dolphin populations which lived in this section.

Toxic chemicals, a human presence, and habitat degradation all factored into this species losing the majority of its population; airport workers reported many deaths of these dolphins while their construction work was in progress.  Thus, as the deadly chemicals and pollution effects built up over recent years, infant death rates increased shockingly.

Why?  Because their mothers were feeding them poison.  The milk the babies rely so heavily upon from their mothers had become so infested with lethal chemicals like PCBs and mercury, that the mother dolphins were literally killing their calves without even knowing it.  First-born calves are usually bound to die immediately after birth, because their mothers have collected so many toxins over the years leading up to her first pregnancy.

The top four primary threats facing Hong Kong’s pink dolphins, according to Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd., are destruction of habitat, overfishing (fishery by-catch especially, which is a worldwide dolphin killer), heavy boat traffic, and, perhaps most prominently, pollution.  Hong Kong dumps near two million tons of sewage into the water every day. 

All these horrific things have added up to the species being nearly depleted.  The last two years alone have seen the most pink dolphin strandings in their recorded history.  When construction of the Chek Lap Kok airport was established, the killings raised at a frightful rate.  2003 hosted the highest number of these dolphins’ strandings with 14.  An additional ten were stranded in the year 2004.

The Chek Lap Kok airport’s construction proved a deadly catastrophe for the pink dolphins who lived in the neighboring waters.

The Trip

I left the hotel at about 8:30 to meet our tour guide at the Kowloon Hotel lobby.  We leave to get onto the minibus at about nine, in the pouring rain.  She explained the details of the trip, and overviews the dangers these dolphins are confronting (as mentioned above).  After about a thirty minute drive in the driving rain, we arrive at a boat dock near Lung Kwu Tan Bay.  The rain timely subsides, and our group enters the boat.

We leave the port; the sea is relatively calm despite the present storm.  We all eagerly await seeing the dolphins at the nose of the boat, staring as the waves rock us back and forth.  The airport is visible on the right.  It was haunting to know that this place I saw on the way out of the small bay was responsible for so many of these dolphins’ deaths.

The rain starts to pour once more; most of us retreated for cover.  Myself and a couple others remained out in the downpour to perhaps catch first sight of the dolphins we were waiting to see.  Our dedicated tour guide ventures out to offer us disposable raincoats.  The rain gradually halted, and we all were out there again, buoying up and down as the wind-driven waters lifted us.

Then, in the distance, a pink tail swiftly snuck into the water.  The first dolphin had greeted us with a quick dive.  The group cheered with excitement.  Soon a couple others showed up, surfacing from time to time to catch their needed breaths.  The cameras were flashing and the passengers, from the youngest to the oldest, were alive with joy. 

My confession is that they were far too quick for my camera, and thus I apologize for not having any photographs of them.  To see pictures of these very rare dolphins, you can visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com/. 

On and on this went, the dolphins would resurface and we would cheer, and then they would return to their lives, undisturbed.  This is, from a naturalist standpoint, how it should really be.  We can appreciate them for sharing their world with us, welcoming us into their homes, and being treated fairly.  These dolphins, so rare and difficult to find, were a very soothing sight, they are still here with us.  Now we must take the next step in assuring their survival.   

The boat turns around, its group having successfully found their awaited sights, and we head back to the bay.  The airport creeps by at the left, as a constant reminder to me as well as all of us atop these waters that we must all take responsibility for our actions, and consider what sort of aftereffects our decisions will eventually or immediately lead up to.

Conclusion

Perhaps the most heartbreaking thing about the manner in which these dolphins are dying off is that they can do nothing to stop it themselves; we as humans are the only ones who can truly help restore their numbers and keep them restored forever, yet our race is frustratingly indifferent about how we treat the oceans. 

Dolphins are the centerpieces of conservationism; seeing these dolphins brought me much assurance and relief that there, indeed, is still hope to keep them alive. 

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Today is my last day here in Hong Kong.  Overcast again, the boats already up bright and early buzzing in the distance. 

After a brisk walk up to the peak near the Victoria Garden on Hong Kong’s main island, I decided to re-visit Ocean Park, to get more complete footage of the park and the dolphin shows they have there.  I also wanted to see the young bottlenose who posed for my camera the other day, so I took a twenty-minute bus ride to the park.

Much like my previous visit, the dolphin trainers were prepping their mammals for their daily work in entertaining crowds.  The place was packed when I got there.  I snuck through large groups of people to get to the Ocean Theatre in time to see the first show.

“Ocean Theatre” in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park

It was identical to the one I saw on Tuesday.  The dolphins showed off their acrobatics, drawing the oos and ahs once again.  Clearly, their remarkable abilities never cease to amaze us when we watch them at shows like this.  The dolphins appeared to be rather used to the procedure of the presentation.  They do love their trainers, perhaps because they are the only human beings prior to their capture who treated them with respect.  My hopes after seeing the dolphins perform a number of times during my visit here is that places like this at the very least teach people, especially young people, to love and care for these dolphins.  Will a childhood memory such as this have a great impact in a person’s future in regards to how they treat not only dolphins, but animals in general?

After the twenty-minute show, I took the cable car down to the lower level of the park.  I walked over to “Dolphin University” once more.  There, I had seen two very different images of how dolphins are treated in captivity.  Early Tuesday I saw a bottlenose being kept in water no more than three or four feet deep.  Later that day, I observed as the captive dolphins playfully splashed around with each other and even today (very much intentionally) got me wet.  I know this because the moment the dolphin lifted his head up with great force as to invoke a large splash of water onto me, he slowly drifted off underwater, swimming with his belly up, which is a noted playful action.  He knew I couldn’t catch him, and maybe he knew likewise that I wouldn’t hurt him even if I could catch him.

Today I did indeed see that young bottlenose who posed for my shots.  I took out my camera and he darted towards me.  It is truly incredible how fast they can recall and recognize.  He swam up very close to me once more, looking me in the eye again.  I just waved back as I saw him slow down to check out his new visitor.  They adore people almost as much as we adore them.  The experience of getting so close to a dolphin, wild or captive, is one which cannot be described with words, except “incredible” and “heartwarming.”

A young bottlenose dolphin comes over to investigate me upon my arrival at “Dolphin University.”

In conclusion for this entire trip in general, seeing the captive dolphins perform their shows dutifully, seeing a bunch of gorgeous pink dolphins in the wild, and coming very close to a particular dolphin at “Dolphin University”, I can honestly say that these animals were meant to be wild animals, not human entertainment tools.  They are very affectionate towards humans, but humans must realize that dolphins were born to live freely in the wild.  Coming so close to one of course was a thrill, but looking into the youngster’s eye, one could tell he was lonely, despite being with five other dolphins in the pool.  I think he may have been separated from his mother when he was taken in for capture.  That only further demonstrates the effects this industry can have on these highly intelligent marine mammals.

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