All Aboard for Cheung Chau Marine Conservation
by Matt Ming
Perhaps no place in Hong Kong highlights the city’s deep ties to the sea better than Cheung Chau Island, one of Hong Kong’s oldest fishing villages. Located in southwest Hong Kong, the 2.5 square kilometer island is home to over 20,000 Cheung Chau residents.
“If you want to learn more about life as a traditional fisherman and the different types of fishing boats used, such as the pair trawler, shrimp trawler and hang trawler, join us for our Cheung Chau tour,” said Sarah Ip, a longtime island resident whose husband is among local fishermen that still ply the waters of Cheung Chau for a living.
Sarah is part of a three-member team that recently organised a series of eco boat tours around the island as part of the Blue Ocean Incubator project. The eco tour is among six projects selected under WWF-Hong Kong’s Blue Ocean Incubator programme aimed to help return local seas to health.
Four eco-tours were conducted during September and October to raise awareness about marine conservation in the Cheung Chau community. All three guide members are Cheung Chau locals, who are well-versed in the island’s fishery industry and culture. The two-hour boat tour specifically targeted Cheung Chau residents in the hopes of raising awareness about the threats faced by our seas.
Setting off from the Cheung Chau typhoon shelter, the boat journey took in nine of Cheung Chau’s most beautiful beaches (Siu Kwai Wan, Tai Kwai Wan, Pak Wan, Tung Wan Tsai, Tung Wan, Kwun Yam Wan, Nam Tam Wan, Pak Tso Wan and Po Yue Wan).
“Since litter in Cheung Chau typhoon shelter originated from local fisheriesand households, local residents are the stakeholders and therefore have priority to join this activity,” said Sarah.
The tour introduced interesting facts, legends, local customs, along with marine pollution problems posed by several government projects, including the proposed sea reclamation that will form part of the Lantau Tomorrow Vision project; the construction of a Cheung Chau slaughterhouse and sewage treatment facilities, the building of refuse transfer stations and the ongoing construction of the Shek Kwu Chau incinerator. “By experiencing, understanding, realising and achieving, participants will pay more attention to the impacts of large infrastructure construction projects to the marine environment in South Lantau,’ said Sarah.
Various types of marine litter could be spotted along the journey that could threaten marine organisms living there. By using a WWF field guide — a marine biodiversity map — Sarah explained the source of the litter and pollution, to educate participants on how human activity — whether it’s during major festivals or boat parties, or dealing with household or electronic waste, and improper disposal of fishing nets or styrofoam boxes — generates large amounts of marine litter.
“I hope children will learn that if we change our habits, using fewer disposable plastic products or reusing them, each one of us can contribute to reducing waste and protecting our ocean!’ said Sarah.
WWF’s marine biodiversity map helped highlight the rich biodiversity in Cheung Chau waters. “Some local residents may not have known the existence of soft corals in northern Cheung Chau, hard corals near Tung Wan each and Chinese white dolphins and finless porpoises near outh of Cheung Chau too.”
Apart from being introduced to local marine species, participants also learned about the threats facing them. The journey wrapped up with an introduction of the top 10 types of marine litter on shorelines, including a plastic straw collected from Tung Wan Beach that may well been mistakenly ingested by fish. The take-home message could not have been clearer: if humans fail to resolve our marine litter problem, we will eventually have a taste of our own medicine.
