Two Indo-Pacific finless porpoises captured by a drone camera. Gary Stokes / OceansAsia
By Elizabeth Claire Alberts
Two silvery-white porpoises glide through the ocean, captured in the lens of a drone camera. The pair swim side by side, occasionally surfacing for a quick breath of air. After a few minutes, they're joined by several other porpoises, and the group travels together before disappearing into deeper waters.
This is the first drone video ever recorded of the rare and very elusive Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) in Hong Kong, says Gary Stokes, director of Oceans Asia, a Hong Kong-based marine conservation group.
Rare footage of the finless porpoise of Hong Kong released
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cb52b62c48cd4f011a2a6ab79a037eb5"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OgpOoQmbYsk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>"I made it my personal holy grail to get footage of these porpoise as they are so hard to document and no one has anything decent," Stokes told Mongabay. "Everyone I spoke with working on them in Hong Kong has little to no images. The best pictures resemble a 'floating tire,' which is as best as you can really get if you are really lucky."</p><p>But Stokes said he got extremely lucky when he went out on his boat to search for them off the coast of South Lantau Island on May 2. "At one point I had 9 to 10 animals, which is said to be about as large a pod as they get, and very uncommon in Hong Kong," he said.</p><p>The finless porpoise is a small, bathtub-sized creature with a distinctive attribute: unlike many other cetaceans, it only has a small dorsal ridge on its back, rather than a proper dorsal fin. This trait gives the finless porpoise its name, and makes it very difficult to detect in the water.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM4Mjk2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzI0MzIzNH0.cZU-uh8k2pHO4hoTqjZz2e6PZR95u4Iaf9V8N92xRt4/img.jpg?width=980" id="79b89" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9fa5ec2c446028b05b764c960c6a7f46" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A pair of finless porpoises off the coast of Hong Kong. Gary Stokes / OceansAsia
<p>But there aren't many finless porpoises left in Hong Kong waters. In 2002, a group of researchers published a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286500030_Distribution_and_abundance_of_finless_porpoises_in_Hong_Kong_and_adjacent_waters_of_China" target="_blank">report</a> that estimated there to be about 152 finless porpoises in the springtime, Hong Kong's peak season, and a total of 220 porpoises year round. A more recent <a href="https://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/conservation/con_mar/con_mar_chi/con_mar_chi_chi/files/Final_Report_2018_19.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, published by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in Hong Kong, said there was a total of 269 finless porpoises in Hong Kong waters between 2018 and 2019, a slightly higher number. Thomas Jefferson, an author of the 2002 report, told Mongabay that he and a team of researchers would also be publishing a new report in a scientific journal later this year, estimating there to be 176 porpoises during the spring of 2019, which was "a very slight increase" from previous estimates.</p><p>The population may have risen moderately, but Teale Phelps Bondaroff, director of research at OceansAsia, says there are still serious concerns about the finless porpoise in Hong Kong based on the number of strandings, which seem to be increasing each year. In the last 14 years, at least 319 finless porpoises were stranded, according to data collected by the AFCD and Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong (OPCFHK), which was published in a new <a href="http://oceansasia.org/finless-porpoise-hongkong/" target="_blank">report</a> by OceansAsia. Last year is thought to be the deadliest year for the species, with 42 officially recorded strandings, although the report notes that at least one or two additional strandings weren't officially recorded. In 2020, there have already been 15 strandings as of May 16, according to OceansAsia.</p><p>"It's really alarming," Phelps Bondaroff, author of the new report, told Mongabay. "Biologists will say that if the annual mortality for a species is between 4 to 5%, that's unsustainable. Well, 42 or 43 porpoise is definitely much more than four to five percent of 220."</p><p>But these strandings are just the ones that are reported. Finless porpoises are frequently trapped and killed in fishing nets as bycatch, and fishermen may not disclose these casualties to the authorities, Phelps Bondaroff said.</p><p>"The law basically says that it's illegal to be in possession of a protected animal … and these porpoises are protected animals in Hong Kong," he said. "But the problem is that if you accidentally get one entangled in your net, you have the burden to prove that you didn't intentionally catch it. And that's very difficult for fishers to do. It's a lot of paperwork, there's bureaucracy involved, and it's sometimes, much easier to simply dump the porpoise over and continue on."</p>
<p>Besides fishing net entanglement, finless porpoises are also threatened by ship strikes, noise pollution, and plastic pollution. However, when a porpoise is found stranded, the cause of death isn't always clear based on the necropsies conducted by the OPCFHK, Phelps Bondaroff said.</p><p>"Not all necropsies are as detailed as they could be," he said. "Some of them are comprehensive with a CT scan … but others are cursory and done in the field, and the problem is that you don't have consistent data."</p><p>OceansAsia makes several recommendations in its report to help conserve the species. First, it suggests that another comprehensive finless porpoise survey be conducted, which will help determine how vulnerable the population is. Second, it proposes making the southwest coast of Lamma Island in Hong Kong, which is prime habitat for finless porpoises, a marine park. Third, it recommends a better system for stranding reporting and comprehensive analysis, a fisheries observation program, and a revision of the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance so fishermen are more likely to report accidental strandings.</p>
<p>The finless porpoise doesn't just live in the coastal waters of Hong Kong, but ranges across Southeast Asia, India, and even the Middle East. Like Hong Kong, some local populations are evaluated to be quite low. For instance, one <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268632435_Population_estimates_and_distribution_patterns_of_Irrawaddy_dolphins_Orcaella_brevirostris_and_finless_porpoise_Neophoceana_phoceanoides_in_the_Kuching_Bay_Sarawak" target="_blank">study</a> estimates that about 135 finless porpoises live off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia. However, John Wang, co-author of the Red List assessments for the IUCN, says that other areas may boast "pretty decent densities [of the finless purpose] relative to other species."</p><p>"Most of the time, the 'rareness' is a misconception because most people won't see finless porpoises even if they swim right by them," Wang told Mongabay in an email. "So, no doubt they are dying in probably high numbers wherever gillnet fishing also occur, they are also probably reproducing quite quickly (being a porpoise) but we have no idea how many there are out there."</p><p>The finless porpoise is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, which means the species faces a high threat of extinction but is not considered endangered. Yet, there would be variances across the species' distribution, according to Randall Reeves, who also acts as chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Cetacean Specialist Group.</p><p>"[I]t's important to bear in mind that an assessment of the species, and especially when the species' distribution is as extensive (and under-surveyed) as is the case for <em>Neophocaena phocaenoides</em>, must not be interpreted to mean that some, even many, local populations are not Endangered, Critically Endangered, or even Extirpated," Reeves told Mongabay in an email. "In fact, we tried to make this point explicitly in the Justification portion of the assessment."</p><p><em><strong>CORRECTION (06/09/2020)</strong>: A previous version of this article stated that John Wang was a co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Cetacean Specialist Group, but this was corrected to say that he is a co-author of the Red List assessments for the IUCN. </em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/caught-on-camera-rare-finless-porpoises-sighted-in-hong-kong-waters/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>
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Crew members sail in the Gulf of California, Mexico, on March 8, 2018, as part of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's operation to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. GUILLERMO ARIAS / AFP / Getty Images
By Elizabeth Claire Alberts
Marine conservation group Sea Shepherd has made the difficult decision to suspend its campaign to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico's Upper Gulf of California.
<p>"We haven't had much choice because we're dependent upon getting fuel from the Mexican government to do the patrols, and we weren't able to get the fuel," Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, told Mongabay. "We have to send the vessels back to Mazatlán, and once we get there, of course, then we're not allowed to leave because of the [COVID-19] quarantine."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkzMjU5Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjY4MDgzMn0.fU7HvOn8sxcQDkRpVjejO-KfY1jHCvUIsaoebw2UEk8/img.jpg?width=980" id="cfd47" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="983c6ef9e8fe65bcee919ac584191f0c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Two of the Sea Shepherd ship that patrol the vaquita refuge. Jack Hutton / Sea Shepherd
<p>Vaquitas (<em>Phocoena sinus</em>), which are endemic to the Sea of Cortez in the Upper Gulf of California, are on the brink of extinction, although there are different estimates of how many are left. A recent <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.190598" target="_blank">study</a> calculated there to be fewer than 19 vaquitas left as of the summer of 2018. Another <a href="http://www.iucn-csg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CIRVA-11-Final-Report-6-March.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, conducted by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA), suggested only about 10 individuals remain, although it also stated that there's a 95 percent chance that 6 to 22 individuals continue to exist.</p><p>The biggest threat to the vaquitas is the illegal fishing of <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22003/9346099" target="_blank">totoaba</a> (<em>Totoaba macdonaldi</em>), which, like the vaquita, is classified as a critically endangered species by the IUCN. The totoaba's swim bladder is believed to have special medicinal qualities in traditional Asian medicine, despite there being no scientific evidence to support this. The bladders, which are used to make a "curative" soup, <a href="https://awionline.org/content/vaquitas-and-totoabas" target="_blank">can fetch prices up to $14,000 USD</a>, according to the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and they're regularly trafficked in the global wildlife trade.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkzMjU5Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzU5NzQ1Nn0.NEC6XKDE-LBdr0pMy8Si29-Vl_aG1SbrHzrviIorIZY/img.jpg?width=980" id="30066" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7b8ee20c89b2b102fce90ba61f70ceae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A vaquita surfacing in the Sea of Cortez. Sandra Alba / Sea Shepherd
<p>Since totoabas are about the same size as vaquitas, vaquitas easily get caught in the gillnets meant to capture totoabas. Gillnets are also used to catch shrimp in the Sea of Cortez, which wreaked further havoc on the vaquita population.</p><p>In 2015, the Mexican government placed a two-year ban on gillnet fishing in the Sea of Cortez, and in 2016, it announced a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/mexico-bans-gillnets-to-protect-rare-vaquita-porpoise/" target="_blank">total ban on gillnet fishing</a>. Despite these legislative efforts, fishing has continued in the area. During a patrol in October 2019, Sea Shepherd reported seeing <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/rampant-fishing-continues-as-vaquita-numbers-dwindle/" target="_blank">more than 70 fishing boats</a> in the vaquita's critical habitat.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkzMjYwNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjgzMzg3NX0.oqur4XctnX1ASgD6U1hRx8skY1gKRz7oUc9_NAMLIN0/img.jpg?width=980" id="913cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="281fb95de4abf5897628682385514b02" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A dead vaquita floating in the ocean. Robbie Newby / Sea Shepherd
<p>Last month, the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-04692.pdf" target="_blank">announced</a> that it would ban all imports of Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught in the vaquita's refuge, an action taken under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Conservationists hope this latest step will provide enough protection to help the vaquita survive.</p><p>"This is exactly how the law protecting marine mammals is supposed to work: if Mexico's fisheries kill vaquita at a rate that violates US standards, the US must ban imports," Zak Smith, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said in a statement. "Mexico has no choice but to eliminate the destructive fishing taking place in the northern Gulf of California that is driving the vaquita to extinction. It's the only hope the vaquita has for survival, and it is required if Mexico wants to resume exporting these products to the United States."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkzMjYwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzYyMDE3Mn0.kWizFUTRvG07o9QQQcUITJJ0_Agio-EFyxzyh0LsP60/img.jpg?width=980" id="d18f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7c0528407ff76c5848d97b3b23800ea9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Sea Shepherd crew members removing illegal gillnets from the Upper Gulf of California. Robbie Newby / Sea Shepherd
<p>Sea Shepherd has spent the last six years patrolling the vaquita refuge, often with scientists and photographers on board to collect data on the vaquitas and to conduct acoustical monitoring. The group has also retrieved 1,200 pieces of illegal fishing gear from the vaquita habitat, according to a <a href="https://seashepherd.org/2019/09/09/expedition-to-sight-critically-endangered-vaquita-porpoise-a-success/" target="_blank">statement</a> on its website.</p><p>While Sea Shepherd isn't able to be in the Sea of Cortez right now, the Mexican navy will be monitoring the waters, Watson said. Fshing activities may decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also possible that poaching will continue — or even increase. "Poachers take advantage of opportunities," Watson said.</p><p>Sea Shepherd crew will return to the vaquita refuge as soon as it can.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkzMjYwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjAwNzg0M30.zLCR6hqVOJVcTWpQq9noTSkSpO76qCst0vl3mt3cn5E/img.jpg?width=980" id="8580d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="406bf4d12fae4bbb3c96fcccc91095f6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Captain Watson has clarified his comment to say that Sea Shepherd is not actually dependent on the Mexican government for fuel, and that the organization has been unable to obtain fuel because of ports being closed and resources not being guaranteed during the COVID-19 crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/covid-19-forces-sea-shepherd-to-suspend-patrols-to-protect-last-vaquitas/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Illegal fishing activity taking place in the Sea of Cortez. Sea Shepherd
<p>The vaquita may be fighting for survival, but Kate O'Connell, marine wildlife consultant at AWI, believes there's still hope.</p><p>The vaquita sightings demonstrate that vaquita remain, and those that have been spotted appear healthy," O'Connell said. "New <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.190598" target="_blank">research</a> … shows that vaquita may reproduce annually, which would increase the species' potential to recover from its current low numbers. While the situation is daunting, other marine mammal species have come back from extremely low numbers, including the northern elephant seal, which was nearly exterminated in the 19th century, and has rebounded from less than 100 individuals to well over 100,000."</p>From Your Site Articles
- New Doc on Nearly Extinct Vaquita Features Leonardo DiCaprio ... ›
- Sea Shepherd Ship Attacked by Rocks, Molotov Cocktails in Vaquita ... ›
- Only 10 Vaquita Porpoises Remain in the World, Scientists Announce ›
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