(CN - HKG) Ocean Park backs down on dolphin study

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South China Morning Post

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by Simon Parry

May 10, 2010

 

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, who wrote to Ocean

Park executive director Suzanne Gendron to object, describing the use of the

foundation as " totally inappropriate and unethical " .

 

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 organisation 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 " .

 

She stressed, however, that even if the foundation had handled the funding,

the money would have come directly from Ocean Park Corporation through a

" restricted donation " - meaning it would not have affected the funds

available or other projects supported by the foundation.

 

In a letter to Jefferson and other scientists sent on Friday, Gendron said

the decision had been taken in part " to avert any misperception that funds

donated to the foundation for conservation efforts were somehow used to

further Ocean Park's business purposes " . In addition, the study would be

overseen by an independent scientific advisory group to monitor the research

and " provide the necessary oversight by an objective third party " , she said.

 

Responding to the decision, Jefferson said yesterday: " I am pleased to learn

the Solomon Islands project will not be paid for with OPCF funds, but I am

still concerned about the bottlenose dolphin population in the Solomon

Islands. I have expressed my desire to see Ocean Park Corporation do the

right thing. By this I mean that, hopefully, a capture operation will not be

conducted.

 

" Many people will be watching to make sure that Ocean Park does not put its

business interests above concern for wildlife and sound management of

wildlife. "

 

Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society chairman Samuel Hung Ka-yiu said:

" Now that Ocean Park Corporation will conduct the study, with an independent

scientist, the question of who will conduct the study is a very important

issue. Whoever it is should be impartial and his or her research should be

credible and under the review of international scientists. "

 

Gendron said no wild dolphin imports would be considered until the study, to

take two to three years, was completed.