Porpoise death brings tally of dead dolphins found to six this year
Dead mammal found on Lantau beach becomes latest marine fatality in local waters
A dead finless porpoise was found on a Lantau beach yesterday - at least the sixth dead dolphin found in Hong Kong waters so far this year.
The mammal's body was spotted by swimmers at lower Cheung Sha beach, on the southern coast of Lantau Island.
Police said the swimmers reported seeing the dolphin floating off the rocky beach outside the shark nets after 6am.
The porpoise is about one and a half metres long and it had external injuries.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department was looking into the porpoise's death after an initial investigation by the marine police.
A month ago, a rarer Chinese white dolphin was found dead near Tai O, also on Lantau.
Last month, the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society estimated there were 61 Chinese white dolphins in Hong Kong waters - 60 per cent lower than a decade ago.
Society chairman Samuel Hung Ka-yiu said there were about 150 finless porpoises in the territory, and that their deaths usually took place in winter.
He said the location of yesterday's dead porpoise "seemed reasonable" because the species was usually active in the southern waters of Hong Kong.
That part of the sea is less affected by the ongoing construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge than the waters off northern Lantau, home to most of Hong Kong's Chinese white dolphins.
The society is unhappy with the bridge construction, which it says is invasive and polluting and will harm the dwindling white dolphin population.
At least five Chinese white dolphins have been found dead this year.
