Hong Kong’s sea life has an amazing variety of habitats and species. But they currently face numerous threats from rampant development, unregulated fishing practices, escalating marine traffic and marine litter pollution. Other threats loom: a total of 2,000 hectares of local waters are planned for reclamation and development in the decades ahead.

Effective conservation measures are needed before it’s too late. Currently, five per cent of Hong Kong waters are designated or planned to be established as marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2023, while fishing and vessels are banned from less than 0.01% of Hong Kong waters. Scientists, conservationists and NGOs have been calling for 30 per cent of global waters to be designated as MPA by 2030.

We are proposing seven priority sites for marine conservation,

A marine protected area (MPA) is a zone designated and managed to protect marine habitats and species for the good of the ocean, society, economy and culture.  Within MPAs, human activities such as fishing, vessel traffic and tourism are regulated.  MPAs can come in the form of a fully protected marine reserve, a moderately protected marine park, or a no-take zone among others.