Hong Kong seeks to ban whale watching after marine mammal found to have been killed by boat
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong is seeking to outlaw whale-watching activities to prevent harm to the marine mammals, the government has said after issuing a report on the cause of death of a Bryde’s whale that appeared in local waters last July.
The government will consult with marine life experts this year on specific proposals for legislative amendments to prohibit whale-watching activities, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) announced last Friday.
The proposal came after the AFCD concluded that a juvenile male Bryde’s whale first seen in Sai Kung waters on July 13, 2023, was killed by a fast-moving vessel later that month.
The strike by propeller blade left severe injuries on the animal’s back and spine, causing instant death, the report based on a necropsy performed by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation found. The estimated time of death was between the morning of July 30 and the morning of July 31. The carcass was discovered floating in the waters off Sai Kung in the morning of July 31.
According to the AFCD, the government had discouraged whale-watching activities after the whale reappeared in local waters on July 21 following its first sighting around a week earlier. Citing its patrol and monitoring data, the AFCD said no whale-watching activity was detected after July 26.
“It is highly unlikely that the wounds leading to instant death of the whale was caused by whale-watching boats,” the English report read.
The probe was unable to determine the type of vessel involved in the incident, but experts estimated that the propeller wounding the whale had a diameter of one metre, suggesting that the it was a relatively large one. Sampans and speedboats were not likely to have been the cause of death, the AFCD said.
The official report also ruled out the possibility that fishing operations had caused the death of the whale. The necropsy found no signs of entanglement in fishing nets on the carcass, AFCD said, adding that fishing vessels typically operated at a relatively slow speed and thus did not match the high-speed vessel that had collided with the animal.
The carcass of an eight-metre-long male whale was found to the south of Shelter Island, around two weeks after a Bryde’s whale was first spotted. The rare sighting attracted many who hoped to see the animal for themselves, with boats offering rides to approach it. Conservation groups urged the public to keep their distance and not surround the animal with boats, as that may affect its ability to return to open waters.
Last August, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan rejected claims that the authorities were slow to help the whale. The AFCD had faced “practical difficulties” in handling the whale sighting, the minister said at the time.
The AFCD said last Friday that the government had formulated a response plan for various scenarios involving the appearance of cetaceans that do not usually reside in Hong Kong. It would facilitate interdepartmental co-ordination and response actions, on-site support and sharing of information with the public.
The authorities also reviewed the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance and other related legislation and suggested giving more powers to the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation to handle “exceptional circumstances.” Such powers may include designating temporary restriction areas more quickly through simplified procedures to restrict vessel navigation in the areas.
The detailed legislative proposals would be tentatively ready this year, the department said.
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