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Fish stocks in Hong Kong waters have crashed from their once-bountiful levels. Hong Kong waters were incredibly rich just decades ago with manta rays, hammerhead sharks, giant grouper and croakers taller than a man. In less than a lifetime Hong Kong has lost them all.
Declining from its peak in the 1970s, Hong Kong's commercial fishery now sees catch rates of only one quarter of what they used to be, and much of the catch now is juveniles. Ecosystem collapse is a real possibility.
The damage to the marine environment is caused by land reclamation, dredging and dumping, pollution, and decades of commercial fishing without sustainable fisheries management. Even large well-known species are still going extinct. Despite certain progress made in the recent years, many problems still remain unresolved including excessive discharge of untreated sewage, continual reclamation of lands leading to loss of marine habitats. Less than 0.5% of our waters are properly protected in no-take marine reserves, a pitiful figure.
Restoration of the ecosystem is the only way to prevent a widespread collapse of fish stocks and achieve sustainable fisheries, WWF globally has called for 20 percent no-take protection of the world's oceans by 2020. In Hong Kong, WWF launched the Save our Seas Campaign in 2005. WWF calls for the creation of "no-take" zones, where fishing is prohibited, covering 10% of Hong Kong waters to conserve the myriad of organisms within them, and allow fish stocks to recover and reproduce undisturbed. |
