Chou explains that the standard international practice in surveying small dolphin populations is to take a photo whenever one is spotted and note the place and time of the sighting and the dolphin's behavior at the time. The photos are then used to identify individuals and analyze how they behave in different areas.
周蓮香解釋，不同於大族群調查採用「穿越線調查」（全球最大聚集地珠江口約 2,600 隻，即採用此法），國際上對小族群海豚的調查採用目擊法，也就是一旦看到海豚就加以拍照，並紀錄其地點、時間、行為模式等，然後一一以照片辨識，並分析出在不同區域時的行為狀態。