Govt wasn't slow to help whale: Tse Chin-wan
Ecology minister Tse Chin-wan on Tuesday denied there'd been a slow response to helping the whale which was found dead in waters off Sai Kung, though he said there was room for improvement in handling such incidents in future. He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the necropsy of the young baleen whale, which suggested a new wound near the animal's dorsal fin could have been caused by a propeller. Tse said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) had been closely monitoring the whale since it was first spotted in mid-July, but it was not easy to guide it out of Hong Kong waters.  "There are different views among the experts on whether and how they can bring the whale back to the ocean. After a lot of discussion [among] different experts, what they agree is that they should observe [the whale] for a longer time." He said it was also hard to set up a no-go area for boats to protect the whale as it swam around and doing so would take a long time under existing laws.  Tse added it might have been more effective to have officers keep boats away from the whale. "If AFCD can have more immediate power to manage, for example, those people who come to observe the whale, that may help. And therefore we will review whether the law can be adjusted to offer AFCD colleagues more power to manage this sort of situation." He added officials will step up public education and develop a set of protocols so they can deal with such incidents more swiftly. Leung Siu-fai, the Director of Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation, said more detailed guidelines are needed for marine animal watching. Meanwhile, Ocean Park said it is sending samples from the whale's internal organs to laboratories overseas for in-depth analysis of whether it was suffering from any diseases. But Howard Chuk, the head of zoological operations and conservation at the park, said results may take weeks to come back.  He said Ocean Park would submit a preliminary report to the government shortly.