My name is Hopper, otherwise known as NL284 by the scientists. As you might have already guessed, I got my name from my ability to jump and play around on the surface of the water.
“Spy hopping” is my speciality. It’s when I only peep my head above the water to see what is going on. You should drop by to see me one day and I will show you my skills! Though humans think that I only jump out of the water because of my curiosity, it is also because of a dream I have. A dream where we dolphins and you humans are true friends. It may be a distant dream, but it will be something that bring both of us good. Because of this dream, other dolphins say that I have inherited my mother, Mickey’s courage.
I used to only roam around the waters of Tai O as it was the perfect place to hunt for fish while I wasn’t busy with small dolphin watching boats also known as walawalas. Though sometimes they can get irritating as they keep following me and their engines are also also noisy, for the most part I don’t really mind. In fact, I quite enjoy the attention the humans give me. They will wave and cheer for me then take pictures. It seems to give them great pleasure when they see me jump out of the water. It makes me feel like a superstar!
The humans on the walawalas always seemed so happy and delighted that I was curious to see if they were all like that. So I started coming to waters north of Lantau. To be honest, the change in environment was a big shock and I took some time to get used to everything here. There was one time I tried to swim to The Brothers Island area via waters north of the airport, I got excited because I heard boat engines. I spy hopped a few time to try look for humans on boats but saw nothing. The engine noise got louder and louder but there was no boat in sight. It was so strange at the time. I peeped up again and was faced with a huge ship that was speeding my way. Instantly, I dived down as deep as I can to avoid ship. Luckily I was able to escaped out of harms way in the nick of time. I don’t want to even imagine what would have happened if i didn’t. I soon learned that that huge ship was a high speed ferry. These ships are horrendous. Their engine sounds are deafening and they traveling at lightening speed. At least the walawalas had friendly humans which made their presence bearable.
Never again have I gone back there. The Sky Pier located next to the airport is home to countless high speed ferries. I find it difficult to wrap my head around how humans can love us so much yet not care about driving these high speed ferries through our habitat? To be friends we need need to learn what mutual respect and care really means.
Still, I will never give up believing till the day I die. I dream that one day, my marvellous jumps will bring us dolphins and humans closer together and we will eventually become true friends. …You may say I’m a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one…
Flaws of Third Runway EIA Report (5)
The EIA report clearly states that Chinese white dolphins observed within the proposed reclamation area for the third runway are negatively impacted by the high speed ferries coming in and out of the Sky Pier. However, the report fails to address how high speed ferries and their routes have affected Chinese white dolphin activity. According to HKDCS studies, there was an evidently higher activity rate before Sky Pier became operational. The EIA report only began their studies only began after the Sky Pier and its reclamation project started. Thus the waters north of the current airport which will be reclaimed for the third runway has been underestimated in its importance as Chinese white dolphin habitat and their traveling corridor.
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