Corona lockdown returns rare dolphins to Hong Kong
By Marwa Mahmoud
Despite the many negative effects of the outbreak of the new Corona virus around the world, the spread of this epidemic has some positive repercussions, especially on the environment.
As a result of lock down scientists said that the number of humpback dolphins living in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which were seen around Hong Kong, jumped after the ferry stopped traffic . Therefor the speed of Corona virus spread will allow those endangered species to return.
So these mammals, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, have begun to return to parts of the Pearl River delta .They have traditionally avoiding Pearl River delta because of the ferries linking Hong Kong and Macau, said Lindsay Porter, a marine scientist at St. Andrews University.
She added that numbers of dolphins in the area have jumped by up to 30 percent since March when ferry traffic was suspended. As a result it is giving scientists a rare opportunity to study how underwater noise affects their behavior.
Porter, who has been studying dolphins for 30 years, said, “These waters are now very calm after it was in the past one of the busiest roads in Hong Kong,” according to Reuters.
Porter and her team put speakers in the water from a small inflatable boat and use drones to track dolphins.
According to Porter, the research indicated that dolphins adapted faster than expected to the calm environment, and their numbers are likely to increase when such stresses are removed.
