Hong Kong's Ocean Park backs down on Solomon Island dolphin study

Solomon Star 17 May 10;

After objections from conservationists and scientists, Ocean Park has decided not to use its charitable foundation to fund a Solomons Islands study that could lead to wild dolphins being imported into Hong Kong.

It will directly fund the US$100,000 study - on whether the dolphin population in the Pacific country is sufficient to allow for exports - rather than through its Ocean Park Conservation Foundation (OPCF).

The study, expected to begin before the end of the year, will take two to three years, and the park promised not to consider imports of wild dolphin pending results of the study.

The decision followed fierce criticism from conservationists and scientists, including former OPCF co-director Dr Thomas Jefferson, co-director of the foundation from 1998 to 2001, said the idea of involving it in the project was "counter to the original aims and goals of the foundation as an organization dedicated to preserving wild populations of marine mammals".

The idea of funding the study through the OPCF was also criticised by Professor John Wang, a member of the cetacean specialist group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a recipient of OPCF funds.

Wang, who works with Trent University in Canada and the National Museum of Marine Biology in Taiwan and receives funding for several projects a year, said he might not have been able to have any further dealings with the foundation if it was involved in the Solomon Islands study.

"I would have a difficult time being associated with an organisation that funds such work," he said. "The perception that scientists may be getting funding from OPCF for an assessment that may lead to more captures [of dolphins] doesn't look good for any of the scientists who have received funding in the past."

Gendron, the theme park's executive director for zoological operations, told the Post the decision not to fund the project through the OPCF had been under discussion internally and a decision was made "in the past week".

Simon Parry
South China Morning Post