PORPOISES in the eastern waters of Hong Kong could be losing their habitat to dredging, much as their cousins, the Chinese White Dolphin, have lost ground in the western waters.
Jo Ruxton of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the finless porpoises were believed to inhabit the southeast waters, particularly around the Po Toi Islands where dredging has been going on for several months.
The porpoises have no dorsal fin and no beak so their faces resemble seals. They are very fat, about 1.8 metres long and dark grey to black, making them difficult to spot. They tend to travel in groups of five. About 10 sightings have been reported to the WWF this year.
''They are still around but they are threatened because the food chain is threatened.'' Ms Ruxton, who used to dive near the Po Toi Islands but has stopped, said the area previously contained many hard and soft corals and small animals which served as food for larger fish.
But sedimentation kicked up by dredgers was so bad that visibility was almost zero and the few soft corals and sea fans still alive could be seen only at very low depths, she said.
''We've had three or four dead porpoises washed up this year. They are another group of cetaceans [to which dolphins also belong] likely to be in trouble,'' she said.
