A 70 per cent drop in the dolphin population since 2003? So, no surprises there.
As we know, the bulk of dolphin activity occurs in the North Lantau waterway which has gone through massive reclamation and construction work since the airport was in its conceptual phase.
Now, with the development of casings, constant piling, island construction and the new Tung Chung North reclamation, I would like to know what measures the Highways Department has taken to minimise habitat degradation for the dwindling pods of dolphins that still call Hong Kong home.
To infer that ecotours could be responsible for this decline is both crass and ill-informed.
A 1995 assessment of the Pearl River Estuary and the water to the north of Chek Lap Kok called for severe restrictions on all boat traffic. Container, bulk and tanker vessels of above 17,000 tonnes are regular users of the North Lantau channel, as are large, high-speed catamarans.
Combine traffic, dredging activity, aerial and in-water noise pollution, in addition to high amounts of secondary pollution, and our dolphins will have disappeared, long before any mitigation measures will have even gone to print.