Survey estimates 50 adult white dolphins in Taiwan

調查估計台灣近海有50隻成年白海豚

More than half of white dolphin pods have calves indicating healthy population


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ocean Conservation Association (OCA) announced its survey results after studying 20 Taiwanese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis taiwanensis)?pods last year.

The survey estimated the total number of adults to be 50 and found that more than half of the dolphin pods had calves. Marine conservationists said this indicated the population is replenishing, per CTS.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard launched a white dolphin population monitoring program on the western coast in 2019. Last year’s survey included four separate sea-based surveys, ranging from Taoyuan to Tainan, covering 2,000 kilometers and 130 survey hours.

The OCA said last year’s survey identified 29 white dolphins, with two elderly, four adults, eight young adults, 15 juveniles, and 21 calves.

Dolphin calves have few distinguishing characteristics, so they are generally not identified nor included in dolphin databases. There are currently 70 white dolphins in the database.

More than half of juvenile white dolphin calf sightings took place in waters south of Changhua. One particular juvenile (OCA070) has been sighted in Yunlin County’s coastal waters for three consecutive years.

OCA Director-General Huang Hsiang-wen (黃向文) said continued monitoring of the white dolphin population will take place to ensure that dolphin calves can grow safely.

The OCA also shared recordings of white dolphins communicating through narrow-frequency "whistles" among pod members. Recordings of their broad-frequency "clicks" used to detect food were also released to the public.

The recordings were made by the OCA through a 14-day monitoring program at two locations on Taiwan's west coast. Through underwater acoustic monitoring, more background information was collected from the white dolphin's habitat.

Researchers learned that most of their whistling communication occurs at night. Meanwhile, the clicks they use for locating prey mostly occur during the day.

For more information about the white dolphin, please visit OCA's website.