Earth Hour 2020: Managing our Oceans
by Thomas Gomersall
For such a relatively small place, Hong Kong has a truly spectacular array of marine life. A study in 2017 found that despite making up just 0.03% of China’s seas, Hong Kong’s waters are home to 5,943 marine species, over a quarter of the 22,269 found in the whole of China. Hong Kong has more species of hard coral than the Caribbean Sea, more mangrove species than the whole of East Africa and several large, iconic marine animals, including Chinese white dolphins (Sousa chinensis), finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides), green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and horseshoe crabs.
Despite this rich marine biodiversity, Hong Kong waters though are far from healthy. Around 2,000 hectares of sea area have been earmarked for coastal reclamation, adding to the seven per cent of Hong Kong’s reclaimed land area over the past century, and threatening to further destroy coastal ecosystems.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s busy marine traffic greatly increases the risk of marine mammals being injured or even killed in boat strikes. These threats have been devastating for the local Chinese white dolphin, whose numbers have dropped by more than 80 per cent in the past 15 years. If no timely action is taken to properly conserve this species, it is likely to disappear from Hong Kong in the near future.
Hong Kong also holds the dubious honour of being the world’s seventh-biggest seafood consumer and the second-biggest in Asia, per capita. It’s estimated that each Hong Konger consumes three times the global average, fueling both a local and international overfishing crisis.
Local fishing fleets have no catch-size limit. Although the most destructive fishing practice, bottom trawling, was banned in 2012, illegal fishing still continues largely unchecked. As a result, Hong Kong’s once rich fish stocks have been decimated. Today, about 90 per cent of the city’s seafood is imported (some of it illegally), contributing to the depletion of fish stocks elsewhere and undermining efforts in those regions to conserve them.
Clearly, Hong Kong’s seas need stronger management and one of the best ways to do that is through marine protected areas (MPAs). When effectively managed using the best available practices and science, MPAs allow natural habitats to recover and increase the abundance and diversity of species within them, including endangered and commercially important ones. Often, this will also lead to larger numbers of fish dispersing outside of MPAs and the regeneration of local fisheries. Over the years, six MPAs have been established in Hong Kong; from Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park to the Cape D’Aguilar Marine Reserve. More recently, the government earmarked the waters of southwest Lantau for a seventh MPA, the designation of which will take effect on 1 April 2020.
However, at present, MPAs cover only five per cent of Hong Kong’s waters. Moreover, the current MPA system has several shortcomings that limit their effectiveness, including a lack of a clear management plan for existing MPAs, clear targets for establishing future ones and involvement by stakeholders (e.g., academics, conservationists, fishermen). In MPAs in the western waters, like The Brothers Marine Park, commercial fishing by registered local fishing vessels is still allowed.
In order to adequately protect marine species and resources, Hong Kong must urgently expand MPAs to cover 30 per cent of its waters by 2030 and address its role in the overfishing crisis. There is already significant public support for such actions. According to a poll of 1,558 Hong Kongers by WWF and the University of Hong Kong, 75 per cent supported the expansion of MPAs and 78 per cent supported regulating or banning commercial fishing in marine parks.
MPAs have to be strategically located, in places where they will conserve the most marine biodiversity. WWF-Hong Kong has identified seven potential sites for MPAs covering important habitats for marine species, including South Lamma for green turtles, Ha Pak Nai for horseshoe crabs, Port Shelter for corals and West Lantau for Chinese white dolphins. Additionally, two other areas to the north and south of Lantau have been proposed as marine parks.
The system of managing MPAs needs improving too. Clear, holistic conservation plans and targets for MPA management and establishment need to be introduced and implemented, as do transparent and long-term monitoring plans. On all of these plans, early and transparent stakeholder involvement is essential to ensure that they are carried out to maximum effect and using the best possible science.
As for overfishing, Hong Kong, with its high seafood consumption rate, could do a lot to support sustainable fisheries and help restore depleted fish stocks around the world by switching to sustainable seafood options. These options can be found in WWF-Hong Kong’s Seafood Guide, which is also available as a mobile phone app (Android | iOS).
Good fisheries management is not only critical for protecting marine ecosystems, it is essential for sustaining people’s livelihoods that rely on fishing: if there is no fish, there is no income to be made. Recently, there has also been an increase in protections for local fisheries. From April 2020, commercial fishing will be banned in four of Hong Kong’s marine parks and the government will not extend existing fishing permits when they expire in 2022. In addition, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will attempt to boost fish populations in marine parks through fish fry restocking and the installation of artificial reefs. Welcoming these moves, WWF also wants measures to go further by banning commercial fishing or at least more strictly regulating it in the western waters, particularly where it overlaps with Chinese white dolphin habitat.
