Experts fear for dolphin seen in river
Print Edition
Who knows why a dolphin would leave its home in the Pearl River Estuary and swim upstream to the sprawling metropolis of Guangzhou, but recently, a Chinese white dolphin did just that.
The straying cetacean hit the headlines when it was spotted earlier this month playing in a river near a bridge in the heart of the city, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province.
Excited onlookers named her Dabai, the Chinese name for the Marvel character known as Baymax, the friendly white robot from the movie “Big Hero 6.”
The Chinese white dolphin is an endangered species and has state protection. Dabai might be an overnight sensation, but the longer she stays in fresh water, the less likely it becomes that she will ever make it back to the sea.
“Dabai’s skin is showing signs of festering. We can see some yellow spots on it,” said Yao Fang of the Guangzhou Fisheries Bureau.
“No white dolphin has been seen in inland waters since 1991,” said Chen Xi of the Pearl River Estuary Chinese White Dolphin Nature Reserve. About 1,800 of them live around Lingding Island in the estuary, one of the most important habitats for the species.
Dabai may have lost her way chasing fish, or because her sonar system has some problems due to old age. The average life of the dolphins is 30 to 40 years and Dabai appears to be about 25.
Although people have seen the dolphin jumping up from the water from time to time, it is not easy to locate her in such a huge river. The fisheries bureau has tried to track her, sending six speed boats in the hope of guiding her home, but all to no avail.
Over-fishing, water traffic and marine projects have all degraded the Chinese white dolphin’s environment. The decline of offshore fisheries has caused a food shortage, so they must risk leaving the safety of the reserve to search for food, and face the possibility of losing their way or being stranded on the shore.
There are dozens of specimens of white dolphins at Sun Yat-Sen University. Some were killed by the propellers of passenger ferries, while others were trapped in fishing nets. Last year alone, eight white dolphins were known to have died after swimming upstream.
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