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Hong Kong Marine Protection Alliance - The First Multi-Disciplinary Marine Protection Platform in Hong Kong is Launched
Declares to Protect and Conserve Hong Kong’s Marine Waters with Their Joint Power Asking for 30% of Local Waters to be Gazetted as Marine Protected Areas by 2030
30th August 2022, Hong Kong - Hong Kong Marine Protection Alliance (known as HKMPA Alliance) is officially launched today at Museum Café of Hong Kong Maritime Museum, a HKMPA member’s venue. HKMPA is the first-ever local collective that focuses on marine conservation and sustainability. The members of HKMPA made a joint declaration on the occasion that they would strengthen their efforts to protect and conserve Hong Kong’s Marine
waters and the Alliance asks for 1) 10% of local waters as immediate priority sites, to be gazetted by government as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); 2) 30% of local waters to be gazetted by government as MPAs within the next 8 years, by 2030. The two asks are illustrated on the attached “Proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for Hong Kong '' map (please refer to Appendix A).
The unique Alliance comprises multiple stakeholders — academics, educators, researchers, environmental advocates and corporate entities (the list of members is shown in Appendix B), who share a common mission, which are
● Preserve Hong Kong’s Marine Waters - To influence local marine policies to include a greater coverage of Marine Protected Areas as agreed and identified by the Alliance.
● Enhance Public Awareness - To engage the public to build awareness on marine sustainability and improve knowledge on marine conservation.
‘I am delighted to announce the launch of HKMPA that elevates our individual efforts as we, the members, come together. We care and are concerned about our current marine water’s condition in Hong Kong. We jointly feel that we must apply more effort and engage together to protect our waters and increase the positive impact that our work can have on our environment and marine creatures.’ Stanley Shea, the spokesperson of HKMPA went on to
explain ‘We are a unique platform that, with our combined strengths to advocate for Hong Kong marine waters’ protection, we can together bring some major changes to our society such as human behavioural changes and new conservation and management strategies.’ Shea is looking forward to making positive progress in the coming future.
In comparison to 42% of the Hong Kong land area being protected, only 3.7% of the local waters in under protection as of 2022, and less than 0.01% among those 3.7% MPAs of Hong Kong waters are considered “no-take zones'' in which fishing and vessel activities are prohibited. HKMPA has imminently focused the attention recommending greater gazettal of MPAs and raising awareness on conservation of marine waters and sustainability. The members are working on different projects which are significant to our local marine conservation, and they will continue working and communicating closely, engaging with the local community and stakeholders such as local pressure groups and lawmakers to achieve the above missions.
Marine conservation projects such as the “Managing Pak Nai’s Ecologically Important Habitats to Preserve its Natural Beauty and Sensitive Biodiversity” by HKMPA member The Nature Conservancy Hong Kong (TNC), illustrates the importance of advocating for larger coverage of MPAs and working with local communities to effectively protect marine ecosystems. Pak Nai is an ecological hotspot for endangered species such as horseshoe crab, however, it is highly vulnerable to human activities such as unregulated tourism, and the area receives limited protection. TNC carries out a partner-based approach with local communities, academia and other members of HKMPA to conduct monitoring and research, and engaging with volunteers in the community to conduct habitat revitalisation activities namely restoring natural oyster reefs and removal of spartina (an invasive cordgrass that can overwhelm the balance of habitats in wetlands) in order to restore, protect and manage the biodiversity of Pak Nai, meanwhile this leads to enhance public awareness and participation towards environmental conservation. TNC has already reconfigured 1,290m2 of abandoned oyster farms and organised 27 school field trips in the past year since the project launched in July 2021.
Another HKMPA member, Harry Chan, also known as the “Ghost Nets Hunter”, is the initiator of the campaign “Ghost Nets Reduction''. He has been working tirelessly with volunteers to clean up “Ghost Nets” (abandoned fishing nets which can cause adverse damage to the marine environment and its creatures) in the past decade. Chan estimates that there are at least hundreds of tonnes of Ghost Nets in local waters due to human activities such as commercial and leisure fishing, and the water flow that brings fishing nets to Hong Kong from other regions. One of his most significant records was the removal of over twenty tonnes of nets in the Sai Kung area
within half a year.
HKMPA positions itself to the law and policy makers as a think tank that focuses on marine protection advocacy, community education, and awareness raising. The Alliance hopes to play the role as a partner on marine conservation with the government and they believe that the current legislation on marine biodiversity protection needs immediate re-evaluation. ‘HKMPA looks forward to working with and providing support to the Environmental and Ecology Bureau and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in advancing marine conservation and protection of Hong Kong’s marine waters and enhancing awareness of marine sustainability in the community.’ Stanley Shea said. He is optimistic that HKMPA would be able to establish a positive relationship with the government bureau and departments since Ecological Civilisation is one key direction in the National Policy, and the Hong Kong Government is committed to implementing various green initiatives in many areas, including marine conservation.
Media enquiries:
Sinria Tam 2550 0879
Aslee Tam 2840 1802