Hong Kong authorities are hoping to ban whale-watching after an autopsy report revealed a male juvenile Bryde’s whale, found dead off the city’s waters last July, was killed by a large, fast-moving vessel that fatally injured its back and spine.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said on Friday the whale was struck by a fast-moving vessel sometime in the 24 hours since the morning of July 30 last year, while ruling out the injury was caused by a whale-watching vessel.
Mickey Lai Kin-ming, director of the department, said authorities should be given more powers to ban whale-watching and quickly establish temporary areas restricting vessel activity in times of a sighting.
“When whales come to Hong Kong, there are often issues or poor health conditions observed, so we should not further disturb them and cause unnecessary stress,” he said.
Lai said he hoped the department would have a concrete plan and timeline on a whale-watching ban by the third quarter of this year, adding an expert panel on the relevant legislation would be consulted.
The report conducted by Ocean Park experts ruled out fishing vessels, sampans and speedboats as the cause of the marine mammal’s death.
Whale-watching activities dropped dramatically after the government dissuaded the public a week after the whale was spotted, the report said, and no such activity was detected four days before the whale’s death.
“With no whale-watching activity spotted during the daytime on July 30, 2023, based on AFCD’s patrolling records, and given whale-watching is typically not feasible at night due to limited visibility, it is highly unlikely that the wounds [that] led to the instant death of the whale was caused by whale-watching boats,” the report said.
The fast-moving vessel involved should be a “relatively large”, it said, estimating the propeller blade that caused the wound to be at least 50cm (19.7 inches) long.
“There were two fresh, severe wounds that cut deep into the animal’s back and reached the spine, severe enough to cause instant death,” the report said.
The Bryde’s whale, which was more than eight metres (26 feet) long, was found dead last July off Shelter Island in Sai Kung, two weeks after it was first spotted there.
It was believed to have strayed into the area, and immediately attracted thousands of curious spectators who went by chartered vessels and sightseeing boats to look at it and take photos to post on social media.
Its carcass was buried at a site at High Island Reservoir’s west dam a week after it was found dead.
The department submitted the report, together with two independent findings by marine mammal experts from Spain and Australia, to an expert group on Friday.
Kenneth Leung Mei-yee, the chairman of the expert group on the conservation of marine mammals, said the vessel in question should be a large commercial vessel with a twin-screw big enough to inflict the two wounds measuring 56cm and 90cm respectively.
“People are compassionate and will not intentionally run into the animal,” he said, adding that the vessel might have hurt the animal by accident at night in the dark.
