A research team from Peking University has found between 110 and
122 Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins in the waters of Qinzhou Bay
in the Beibu Gulf, off the southern coast of China.
It is the largest group of its kind to be sighted in the Beibu
Gulf in recent years.
The majority of the rare dolphins we spotted were adults, said a
research fellow with the Qinzhou Bay Indo-Pacific Hump-Backed
Dolphins Research Center of Peking University.
Experts say that the healthy ecological environment is a key
reason for the increase in the population of the Indo-Pacific
hump-backed dolphins.
Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins are found from northern
Australia and Indonesia to southern China, and around the coastal
rim of the Indian Ocean to southern Africa. The dolphins, whose
colors range from black and grey to white and red, are inhabitants
of tropical to warm temperate coastal waters and they can enter
rivers, estuaries and mangroves.
They are listed for top state protection in China.
"We fishing people consider the hump-backed dolphins as signs of
good luck," Pei Qiangting, a resident from Sanniangwan Village of
Qinnan District of Qinzhou City, "If there is a bad weather on the
sea, dolphins can warn us. Therefore, we should work to protect
them."
According to Su Yun, a local official with the Sanniangwan
tourist administrative zone, large ferryboats are banned from
entering the Sanniangwan seaside resort to avoid causing harm to
the dolphins.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)
