About this time of year, Hong Kong is visited by our regular commuting shark. The maneater cruises into our waters and lurks about Clearwater Bay, grabbing unwary swimmers. A couple of weeks later, he meanders away.
But sharks these days are the least of the worries confronting swimmers in the area, warns marine expert Charlie Frew. He reckons people who swim outside the safety borders of shark-netted beaches are more likely to be run down by a speeding boat than taken by a great white. 'It's a tragedy no longer waiting to happen,' he warns, pointing to two recent fatalities in the area. In both cases, swimmers were killed when struck by speedboats.
Mr Frew is right. The dangerous antics of speedboat drivers are frightening. Some of the lunatic operators are macho hoodlums who delight in hurling their boats at high speed through pleasure craft anchored off popular beaches. Or their vessels scream at high speed close to shore, showing off to crowds on the beaches.
Meanwhile, the marine police seem to take little notice and even less action. Mr Frew is also an active member of the Sai Kung Association, which tries to make the area a pleasant place to visit. A major threat to this is speedboats that make it dangerous to venture into the water.
He calls for police to take stricter action against wayward speedboat drivers. Mr Frew points to a recent incident in which three boats towing wakeboarders sped up the estuary of Kau Lung Hang stream near Tai Po.
This has been described by academic environmentalist Gordon Maxwell as 'Hong Kong's dream stream' because of the beauty of the highly sensitive mangroves and mud flats. Mr Frew said: 'The wakes of fast boats have an enormously destructive impact on natural communities like this bay.' In addition to being a direct threat to any children paddling in the stream, speeding boats destroy the natural habitat of crabs, wading birds and fish.