- Marine expert Compass Chan says incident shows people must ‘reflect seriously on how to get along with different animal species’
- Carcass taken for examination to Sai Kung’s High Island Reservoir on Monday evening, where fresh wound to fin was spotted
The body of a dead Bryde’s whale is lifted out of the waters off Hong Kong for an autopsy. Photo: May TseA whale found floating dead in Hong Kong waters after two weeks in the area had a new wound to its dorsal fin, sparking a flood of social media anger against sightseers.
Fishermen discovered the carcass, believed to be the Bryde’s whale first spotted off Sai Kung on July 13, floating close to shore on Monday morning.
The fresh wound was discovered after the carcass was taken to the west dam of High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung for a necropsy – the animal version of an autopsy.
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“The new wound is located at the dorsal fin … in the middle of its back. We are still measuring the size,” Compass Chan, a scientific officer at Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, said.
He added that experts earlier identified two older injuries on the animal’s back.
“Whether it is the cause of its death, we can only confirm that after the necropsy,” Chan explained.
“It’s a great pity that the whale has died. It is a very good chance for the public to reflect seriously on how to get along with different animal species.”
The whale also had a gaping wound on its belly, with parts of its internal organs and muscle tissue protruding.
He added that the whale had died very recently and experts would analyse its blood and organs to check on its general condition before it died.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said the examination of the carcass would probably take a few days and its results could help the government draw up plans to handle whales if more turned up in the city’s waters.
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“After the necropsy, the department will make appropriate arrangements, including to look at whether it can be made as a specimen for scientific research and education,” the department said.
The department added that whale-watching activity was significantly reduced over last weekend.
A video circulated online showed the mammal floating upside down with part of its guts and muscle tissue spilling out. Fresh wounds and bite marks were seen in images taken by a SCMP photographer in Hong Kong’s eastern waters.
The news caused many to take to social media and insist that whale-watchers and the government had to share the blame.
Some wrote that people who went on boat tours to catch a glimpse of the mammal were “accomplices” to its death and others criticised the government for not doing enough to protect it.
“Those who went on those boat rides are the killers of the whale,” one Facebook post said.
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Connie Chung, another Facebook user, wrote: “The boatmen and those who went out to watch the whale are all accomplices, and karma will hit them back. It was living by itself in the sea. It shouldn’t have had to have dealt with such nuisances.”
But others took a different view of the reasons behind the whale’s death.
“I believe the fact that he couldn’t swim back to the ocean was more likely to lead to its death than whale-watching,” Alun Fok said on Facebook.
Others said the government should have banned whale-watching tours before it was too late.
Police and the Marine Department vessels arrived at the scene at around noon, hours after receiving the first report of the carcass. Staff members from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and Ocean Park experts also headed to the location.
The appearance of the whale earlier this month enthralled spectators and intrigued experts, who tried to discover the reason for its visit.
But injuries suspected to have been caused by a propeller were also noticed around its dorsal fin, which sparked an appeal by No 2 official Eric Chan Kwok-ki for authorities to step up patrols to protect the whale.
Biologists later suggested the injuries were old ones that could not have been caused in recent weeks.
The Marine Department said it had increased the frequency of patrols in the surrounding waters and distributed pamphlets to ask boat skippers not to approach the whale.
The department also asked vessels that passed through the area to slow down, a spokesman added.
The Ocean Park Conservation Foundation also “strongly” urged the public not to visit the area.
The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society said it was unclear whether the whale had sustained the injury that led to its organs spilling out before or after its death.
“We didn’t have consistent monitoring of the whale. There is no way to know for sure what happened to it exactly,” said the society’s chairman Taison Chang Kai-tai.
“The stress from boat tours during the day and nearby fishing vessels during nighttime may not be the direct cause of the whale’s death, but they might have hastened its demise.
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“Each of the ships’ engines is a source of underwater noise. They could have acted as loudspeakers, preventing the whale from finding its way back to the open ocean and searching for food.”
The last sightings of a Bryde’s whale in Hong Kong or in nearby waters were recorded in June to August 2021, off Shenzhen’s Dapeng peninsula in Mirs Bay, as well as off Sai Kung.
A carcass of the same species was found in Shenzhen waters in August.